N°  2848,  MAY  27,  '82 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  CM  EGO 


THEOLOGICAL   BOOKS. 


I 

^         The  Liturgical  Poetry  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor. 
v     With  Translations  into  English  in  the  Original 
>    Metres.    By  Digby  S.  Wrangham,  M.A.   3  vols. 
J    (Kegan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co.) — Mr.  Wrangham 
is  taken  his  text  of  the  Latin  originals  of  these 
hymns   from  the  edition  published  by  Gautier 
\    about  twenty  years  ago.     Gautier  did  not  revise 
the  text  critically,  and  admitted  many  hymns  or 
w    sequences  which  were  not  written  by  Adam  of 
v^    St.    Victor.     In  this  he  has  been  followed  by 
Mr.  Wrangham,  who  would  have  done  well  if  he 
had  taken  the  trouble  to  collate  the  sequences 
I     with  copies  of  those  which  are  to  be  found  in 
v    mediaeval   manuscript  service  books,   many   of 
which  are  in  the  British  Museum  and  Bodleian 
i     libraries.      It   is    to  be  wished   also   that   Mr. 
Wrangham   had    given    his    readers    a    longer 
v     preface,  and  some  account  of  what  sequences 
are,  by  whom  and  when  introduced,  and  how, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  they  have  long  fallen 
into  disuse  in  the  Catholic  Church.     A  few  pages 
to  this  effect  would  have  much  increased  the 
interest  in  these  hymns  among  the  large  majority 
of  his  readers,  for  there  are  not  many  people  who 
know  much  about  the  subject.     But  we  heartily 
thank  Mr.   Wrangham  for  what  he  has  done. 
He  has  attempted  a  very  hard  task,  and  very 
fairly  succeeded.     He  has  not  only  supplied  a 
-  reasonably  correct  version  of  the  sequences,  but, 
Vin  spite  of  the  great  difficulties  in  his  way,  has 
given  it  in  a  very  literal  manner  and  in  rhymes 
which  are  generally  good,  and  often  excellent, 
imitations  of  the  original.     It  would  be  absurd  to 
cay  that  Mr.  Wrangham  has  always  managed  to 
convey  the  exact  sense  of  his  author ;  but  we 
have  not  observed  a  single  example  where  he 
has  failed  because  of  want  of  labour,  or  because 
of  a  wish  to  introduce  some  new  thought  or 
illustration   of  his    own.      Sometimes,    in    his 
desire  to  be  literal,  his  version  touches  on  what 
seems  to  be  almost  grotesque  and  ridiculous,  and 
we  could  have  forgiven  a  less  literal  translation 
which  had  retained   only   the   spirit   and    the 
meaning.     This  straining  after  too  great  exact- 
£  j  ness  has  involved  also  the  admission  of  some 
J  I  objectionable  and  false  rhymes.      But,    as   we 
x  have  already  said,  we  gladly  welcome  Mr.  Wrang- 
^jl  ^  ham's  book  ;   it  is  good  work  of  a  good  scholar, 
;and  of  one   who  thoroughly  sympathizes  with 
'  his  subject.      It  should  be  added  that  the  three 


ADAM   OF  ST.   VICTOR. 


THE   LITURGICAL  POETRY 


OF 


ADAM    OF    ST.    VICTOR. 


FROM  THE  TEXT  OF  GAUTIER. 


WITH   TRANSLATIONS   INTO   ENGLISH   IN  THE  ORIGINAL   METRES 
AND   SHORT  EXPLANATORY  NOTES  BY 

DIGBY  S.  WRANGHAM,  M.A., 

ST.  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  OXFORD, 
Vicar  of  Darrington,  Yorkshire. 


VOL.    I. 


LONDON : 
KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  &  CO.,  i,  PATERNOSTER  SQUARE. 

MDCCCLXXXI. 


[All  rights  reserved.} 


TO 

His  ROYAL  HIGHNESS 

PRINCE   LEOPOLD, 

DUKE  OF  ALBANY,  EARL  OF  CLARENCE, 

BARON  ARKLOW,  K.G.,  K.T.,  G.C.M.G.,  G.C.S.I., 

&c.  &c.  &c., 

LIKE  HIS  ILLUSTRIOUS  AND  GIFTED  FATHER, 
A  SCHOLAR  AND  PATRON  OF  LETTERS, 
THIS   ATTEMPT 

TO 

ILLUSTRATE  AND  INTERPRET 
A   GREAT    MEDIAEVAL   CLASSIC 

IS 
WITH  HIS   PERMISSION 

DEDICATED 

BY  ONE  WHO,  UNLIKE  HIS   ROYAL  HIGHNESS,  CANNOT 

HOPE  TO  ENHANCE, 

BUT  ONLY   FEARS  TO  FORFEIT, 

THE  REPUTATION  FOR  GRACEFUL  SCHOLARSHIP 

THAT  IN  DAYS  GONE  BY 
DISTINGUISHED  THE  NAME  HE  BEARS. 


PREFACE. 

T  N  offering  this  work  to  the  public  I  am  breaking  what  is 
JL  practically  new  ground  to  the  great  majority  of  English 
readers.  The  circumstances,  detailed  in  the  Introduction  to 
M.  Gautier's  Edition,  under  which  the  larger  part  of  the 
poetry  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  was  entirely  lost  to  the  world 
for  many  years  after  the  French  Revolution,  seem  likely  to 
give  an  interest  and  novelty  to  it  in  this  country  at  this  day, 
which  that  Edition,  published  in  Paris  in  1858-59,  has  only 
to  a  very  limited  degree  forestalled.  I  feel  therefore  that,  so 
far  as  the  original  text  is  concerned,  I  am  doing  good  service 
to  the  lovers  of  Mediaeval  Hymnology,  by  rendering  it  more 
accessible  to  them  in  this,  the  first  edition  of  it  published  in 
England. 

As  regards  what  forms  the  principal  part  of  my  work  in 
these  volumes,  viz.,  the  Translations,  I  feel,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  much  apology  is  due  for  the  imperfections  with 
which  I  know  they  abound,  and  I  am  anxious  therefore  to  ex- 
plain the  principles  which  have  guided  me  in  my  attempts — 
for  they  are  no  better  than  attempts — to  render  the  original 
into  our  tongue. 

I  have  looked  at  the  duty  of  a  translator  as  analogous  to 
that  of  an  engraver,  and  felt  that,  the  poet  being  a  "  word- 
painter"  the  translator  must  be  a  "  word-engraver"  ;  hi  other 
words,  that  to  be  successful,  he  must  reproduce  faithfully,  as 
a  whole  and  hi  detail,  what  he  sets  himself  to  copy.  A  so- 


viii  PREFACE. 

called  translation,  which  is  stripped  at  the  taste  of  the  trans- 
lator not  only  of  faeform  of  the  original,  viz.,  its  metre,  but 
more  or  less  also  of  the  thoughts  and  expressions  with  which 
that  form  is  clothed,  appears  to  me  to  fail  to  be  what  it  pro- 
fesses to  be,  just  in  proportion  as  these  defects,  if  I  may  ven- 
ture to  call  them  so,  appear  in  it.  It  may  be  a  very  beautiful 
piece  of  poetry  in  itself, — and  it  very  often  is  so, — but  a 
translation,  i.e.,  a  transferring  of  a  given  original  from  one 
language  into  another  it  can  scarcely  be.  If  I  were  to  take 
the  picture  of  a  beautiful  boy  with  curling  locks  and  ' '  fair 
and  of  a  niddy  countenance,"  and  draw  another,  as  fancy  led 
me,  of  that  same  boy  in  later  life,  bronzed  in  the  battle  of 
life,  of  stalwart  form  and  with  flowing  beard  ;  though  I 
might  keep  the  shapely  features  of  the  original  face  before 
me  constantly  and  reproduce  their  outline  carefully,  no  one 
could  say  that  I  had  made  a  copy  of  the  picture  I  had  seen. 
Those  who  saw  the  two  portraits  together  might  detect  that 
the  child  was  the  father  of  the  man,  but  that  would  be  all. 
They  would  count  the  two  as  separate  works  of  art,  standing 
or  falling  by  their  own  several  faults  or  merits,  and  never 
dream  that  the  second  was  intended  to  reproduce  the  first. 

And  what  is  true  of  the  copyist  would  seem  to  be  neces- 
sarily still  truer  of  the  engraver,  who  has  not  the  help  of 
colours  to  aid  his  efforts,  as  the  former  has,  and  is  compelled 
therefore  to  follow  most  closely  his  original  both  in  outline 
and  detail,  if  he  would  have  that  original  recognizable  at  all 
in  the  sombrer  hues  of  his  engraving. 

In  like  manner  the  translator,  so  far  from  needing  the  origi- 
nality with  which  some  would  have  him  endowed,  must  be  con- 
tent, I  submit,  like  the  engraver,  to  follow  his  original  painfully, 
line  after  line,  and  not  be  satisfied  with  his  work  till  he 
has  succeeded  in  so  reconstructing  it,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  of  the  two  works  as  to  their 
inter-identity.  In  a  certain  sense,  no  doubt,  an  engraver 
should  be  an  artist,  that  is  to  say,  he  should  have  a  good  eye 


PREFACE.  ix 

for  proportion,  and  be  well  versed  in  the  rules  of  drawing 
generally ;  and  in  the  same  sense  a  translator  should  be 
something  of  a  poet,  with  a  good  ear  for  rhythm, — the  propor- 
tion of  poetry, — and  not  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  poetical  com- 
position. But  neither  engraver  nor  translator  needs  to  be 
original,  to  my  mind  ;  for,  when  his  originality  comes  in  at 
the  window,  his  original  goes  out  at  the  door.  It  is  a  singu- 
lar fact,  for  I  think  it  is  a  fact,  that  great  poets  have  not  been 
very  successful  translators,  nor  successful  translators  very 
great  poets.  Exceptions  there  may  have  been  to  this  rule, 
but  very  rare  ones.  The  only  great  poet  who  was — I  can 
scarcely  say  a  great — but  a  good  translator,  that  I  can  call  to 
mind,  was  Dryden,  and  his  translations  are  of  the  freest ; 
while  the  merits  of  Milton,  Pope,  Cowper,  Shelley  and 
Keble,  as  translators,  pale  before  those  of  Gifford,  Neale, 
Frere  and  Conington. 

Should  I  seem  to  go  too  far  were  I  to  suggest  that  the  ob- 
ject of  a  translator  and  that  of  a  parodist  should  be  much  the 
same  in  kind,  however  different  in  effect?  The  difference 
between  them  appears  to  me  to  be  simply  this,  viz.,  that, 
while  both  preserve  the  metre  of  their  original,  the  translator 
changes  its  language,  and  preserves,  as  far  as  possible,  its 
meaning,  and  the  parodist  changes  its  meaning,  and,  as  far 
as  possible,  preserves  its  language. 

If  in  these  principles,  which  I  cannot  help  thinking  ought 
to  govern  translators,  I  am  at  all  right, — however  imperfect 
may  be,  and  are,  my  own  attempts  to  carry  them  out, — I 
need  scarcely  point  out  how  absolutely  essential  it  is  to  ob- 
serve them  in  translating  such  an  author  as  Adam  of  St. 
Victor,  because  it  is  manner  and  not  matter  that  is  his  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic.  As  Archdeacon  Cheetham  observes 
in  a  private  letter  to  me,  "  though  his  variations  on  his  theme 
are  almost  always  sweet,  Adam's  range  is  not  great ; "  and, 
therefore,  if  you  take  away  his  metres,  which  are  ever-chang- 
ing in  the  same  Sequence  even,  and  his  peculiar  mode  of 


x  PREFACE. 

building  them  up,  till  he  finishes  with  a  rush  of  liquid  rhyme, 
you  utterly  efface  what  is  his  distinguishing  feature.  No 
author  probably  is  so  difficult  to  translate — such  at  least  was 
Dr.  Neale's  opinion,  and  he  had  had  experience  enough  of 
the  difficulty  to  make  him  a  judge  ; — but,  if  translated  at  all, 
it  can  only  be  fairly  done  by  adhering  strictly  to  the  lines 
upon  whkh  Adam  himself  builds  his  mellifluous  superstruc- 
ture. It  is  better,  to  my  fancy,  to  present  even  the  skeleton 
of  him,  as  one  may  hope  to  succeed  in  doing,  in  a  perfectly 
literal  translation  ;  than  to  give  him  to  the  world  as  a  shape- 
less mummy,  embalmed  though  it  may  be  in  the  richest 
spices  of  original  thought  and  feeling. 

At  the  same  time  I  would  not  be  understood  to  maintain 
that  no  license  at  all  is  permitted  to  the  translator ; — my  own 
versions  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  would  be  more  faulty,  than  I 
quite  feel  they  are  as  it  is,  were  that  the  case.  I  simply  urge 
that  the  license  must  at  any  rate  be  limited,  in  the  case  of 
additions  or  omissions,  to  such  as  leave  intact  the  sense  of 
the  original  passages,  and,  in  the  case  of  metres,  to,  at  most, 
the  occasional  varying  the  rhythm  of  some  of  them,  leaving 
the  number  of  syllables  the  same.  Such  a  metre  as  the 
following,  e.g., — and  there  are  some  four  or  five  of  that 
character  in  Adam's  collection  of  sequences,  appears  to  me  to 
be  one,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  in  our  consonant -ridden 
language  to  reproduce  faithfully  and  yet  gracefully. 

Salve,  dies  dienun  gloria, 
Dies  felix,  Christi  victoria, 
Dies  digna  jugi  laetitia. 
Dies  prima ! 

I  have  ventured,  therefore,  to  alter  the  emphasis,  while  keep- 
ing intact  the  length,  of  each  line,  thus: 

Hail,  day,  the  glory  of  all  days  !   to  thee  ! 
Thrice  happy  day,  Christ's  day  of  victory ! 
The  first  day,  day  most  fit  continually 
Our  joy  to  show  ! 


PR&FACR.  xi 

I  have  adopted  the  same  course,  and  for  the  same  reason,  in 
the  case  of  four  other  Sequences,  viz.  :  "  Gaude  Sion,  quae 
diem  recolis  ;  "  "Jerusalem  et  Sion  filiae  ;"  "  Aquas  plenas 
amaritudine  ; "  and  "Gratiani  grata  solempnitas."  A 
few  lines,  sprinkled  about  here  and  there  in  other  Sequences, 
I  have  treated  in  the  same  way.  With  these  exceptions,  I 
have  kept,  I  believe,  rigidly  to  the  exact  metre  of  each  original 
Sequence. 

One  great  difficulty  in  carrying  out  the  principle  of  literal 
translation  in  these  volumes  has  been,  not  only  the  number, 
but  the  character  also,  of  the  rhymes  so  called  for.  English 
rhymes  are  naturally,  and  generally,  single  rhymes  ;  Latin 
rhymes,  on  the  other  hand,  are  naturally,  and  generally, 
double  rhymes.  In  Latin,  again,  the  same  terminations,  if 
attached  to  words  of  different  meanings,  are  held  to  rhyme  ; 
in  English,  however,  this  is  not  the  case, — every  word,  in 
order  to  make  a  good  rhyme,  must  in  our  language  have  a 
different  termination,  ultimate  or  penultimate,  — according  as 
the  rhyme  is  single  or  double, — to  the  word  with  which  it  is 
meant  to  rhyme.  The  literal  translator,  therefore,  of  any 
rhyming  Latin  poetry, — especially  one  that  ventures,  in  trans- 
lating such  a  master  of  rhyme  as  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  to  keep 
intact  both  the  number  and  the  character  of  the  original 
rhymes, — starts,  handicapped,  as  it  were,  by  the  necessity 
of  finding  rhymes  in  numbers  far  greater  than  any  English 
poetry,  so  far  as  I  know,  contains,  and  of  a  kind  in  which 
the  English  language  is  singularly  poor.  I  venture  to  remind 
the  critical  reader  of  these  facts,  in  the  hope  that  they  may 
serve  to  explain,  if  not  to  excuse,  my  shortcomings — which  I 
am  painfully  aware  of — in  the  matter  of  rhymes.  I  can  only 
say  that  I  have  done  my  best  to  avoid  even  doubtful  rhymes, 
and  such  as  still  disfigure  my  translations  remain,  because  I 
have  failed  to  find  better  ones  to  replace  them. 

I  have   thought   it   better   on  the  whole, — chiefly  in  the 
interest  of  the  translations, — to  print  the  original  Sequences 


xU  PREFACE. 

and  my  own  renderings  of  them  upon  opposite  pages.  I  am 
aware  that  some,  who  will  value  the  book  simply  for  the  sake 
of  the  Latin  text,  would  have  preferred  having  the  translations 
printed  at  the  end  of  each  volume  by  themselves,  but  the 
poetry  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  is  of  so  peculiar  a  kind,  that  I 
think  the  majority  of  any  readers  I  may  be  fortunate  enough 
to  secure,  will  like  better  to  have  the  two  placed  as  they  are 
for  the  sake  of  ready  comparison.  The  translations,  if  found 
to  be  tolerably  correct,  are  naturally  such  an  interpretation  of 
the  originals  as  to  render  long  critical  notes  unnecessary, 
and  such  as  there  are  I  have  remitted  to  the  end  of  each 
volume,  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  appearance  of  the 
pages. 

The  notes  themselves  are  principally  confined  to  short 
accounts  of  the  less  known  Saints  commemorated  by  the  poet, 
to  Scripture  references,  and  to  explanations  of  the  typology 
and  symbolism— of  both  of  which  Adam  is  very  fond — con- 
tained in  the  Sequences.  I  have  gathered  my  information 
from  the  best,  indeed  the  only,  sources  accessible  to  me  in  a 
country  parsonage. 

I  should  like  to  be  able  to  thank  by  name  all  those  who 
have  aided  me  in  many  ways  in  my  undertaking,  but  they 
are  so  many  in  number  that  I  am  compelled  to  content  my- 
self with  a  general  expression  of  heart-felt  gratitude  in  the 
case  of  the  large  majority  of  my  kindly  coadjutors.  Some, 
however,  I  feel  bound  to  mention  more  particularly. 

To  His  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,— the  first  "  Vic- 
torine  "  scholar  of  the  day, — I  owe  my  grateful  thanks  for  his 
kindness  in  helping  me  in  not  a  few  of  the  difficult  and  ob- 
scure passages  to  be  found  in  the  text  of  Adam  ;  for  his 
allowing  me  to  use  what  he  has  written  upon  Adam,  (a  per- 
mission of  which  I  have  freely  availed  myself,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  notes,  &c.)  ;  and  not  least  for  his  personal  interest  in 
the  work  of  one  who  was  a  perfect  stranger  to  him. 

To  Canon  C.  Page  Eden,  Vicar  of  Aberford,  and  to  Dr. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

Littledale  I  am  equally  and  deeply  indebted  for  assistance 
which  must  have  involved  no  little  time  and  labour  even  to 
such  distinguished  scholars  as  they  are,  and  without  which  I 
should  scarcely  have  dared  to  venture  upon  publication. 

To  Bishop  Jenner,  Dr.  B.  H.  Kennedy,  Canon  of  Ely, 
Regius  Professor  of  Greek  at  Cambridge,  W.  S.  Lilly,  Esq., 
and  to  many  others  my  thanks  are  due  for  help  and  interest 
in  a  work  which  I  can  only  hope  may  not  prove  entirely 
unworthy  of  the  kindness  it  has  elicited  towards  myself  during 
its  progress. 

I  would  only  add  how  grateful  I  shall  be  to  any  of  my 
readers  who  may  be  moved  to  point  out  defects,  or  to  suggest 
improvements  in  what  is  still,  I  fear,  very  crude  work.  I 
shall  grudge  no  additional  time  nor  labour  spent  hereafter  to 
make  more  worthy  of  their  great  original  the  interpretations 
I  have  essayed  in  these  volumes  of  perhaps  the  noblest  Medi- 
aeval Classic  we  possess. 

D.  S.  W. 
DARRINGTON, 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  VOLUME. 


SEQUENCES  FOR  CHURCH  SEASONS. 
No.  Page 

Adam  of  St.  Victor xix 

(  Nati vitas  Domini 2 

\  Christmas 3 

(  Nativitas  Domini 8 

\Christmas 9 

J  Nativitas  Domini 14 

\  Christmas 15 

(  Nativitas  Domini  .....  22 

\  Christmas      ......  23 

( Nativitas  Domini  .         .         .         .         .  28 

\  Christmas 29 

(  Nativitas  Domini 34 

\  Christmas -35 

(  Nativitas  Domini 38 

\  Christmas 39 

( Dies  Circumcisionis        ....  46 

\  The  Circumcision  of  Christ    ...  47 

,„       /  Pascha 52 

\Easter 53 

x      /  Pascha 58 

\  Easter 59 

f  Pascha 64 

(Easter 65 

xii.      |£ascha 70 

(.  Easter 71 


CONTENTS. 


No. 

f  Pascha  

76 

XIII. 

t  Easter  

77 

XIV. 

f  Pascha  

80 

X  Easter  

81 

88 

XV. 

\Ascension      

.        89 

(  Pentecoste     ..... 

94 

XVI. 

(Whitsuntide  

95 

(  Pentecoste     

100 

XVII. 

(Whitsuntide  

101 

f  Pentecoste     

no 

XVIII. 

(Whitsuntide  

in 

(  Pentecoste     ..... 

.      116 

XIX. 

(Whitsuntide  

•       "7 

J  Pentecoste     

122 

XX. 

(Whitsuntide  

.        123 

/Trinitas         

.        128 

XXI. 

(  Trinity  ...... 

129 

(  Trinitas          

.        130 

XXII. 

(  Trinity  

(  Dedicatio  Ecclesiae 

.        136 

XXIII. 

X  On  the  Dedication  of  a  Church 

•        137 

J  Dedicatio  Ecclesiae 

144 

XXIV. 

\  On  the  Dedication  of  a  Church 

.         145 

(  Dedicatio  Ecclesise 

.        150 

XXV. 

\  On  the  Dedication  of  a  Church 

J"  Dedicatio  Ecclesise 

.'        156 

XXVI. 

\  On  the  Dedication  of  a  Church 

•         157 

SEQUENCES  FOR  SAINTS'  DAYS. 

{S.  Andreas 
O,.        A       J 
St  Andrew 


XXVIII. 


rs. 
\st. 


Nicolaus 
Nicholas 


164 
165 
170 
171 


CONTENTS. 

XVH 

No. 

Page 

XXIX. 

{S.  Stephanus         .... 
St  Stephen  

.        I76 

184 

XXX. 

St.  Stephen  

.        I85 

XXXI. 

f  S.  Joannes  Evangelista  . 
\  St.  John  the  Evangelist 

.       188 
.       189 

XXXII. 

f  S.  Joannes  Evangelista  . 
X  St.  John  the  Evangelist 

.       194 
.       195 

XXXIII. 

(  S.  Joannes  Evangelista  .        .         . 
X  St.  John  the  Evangelist 

200 
2OI 

XXXIV. 

(  S.  Joannes  Evangelista  . 
X  St.  John  the  Evangelist 

2O4 
205 

f  S.  Thomas  Cantuarius   . 

208 

XXXV. 

X  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury 

2O9 

{S.  Thomas  Cantuarius    . 

214 

XXXVI. 

St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury 

.        215 

{S.  Thomas  Cantuarius  . 

222 

XXXVII. 

St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury 

223 

XXXVIII. 

f  S.  Genovefa  

.         230 

XXXIX. 

f  S.  Agnes       
X  St.  Agnes      

.         236 
•        237 

NOTES 

........ 

•         24C 

ADAM  OF  ST.  VICTOR. 

THE  Abbey  of  St.  Victor,  from  which  the  great  Latin 
hymnologist  takes  his  name,  and  which, — originally  in 
the  suburbs  of  Paris, — was  later  on  absorbed  into  the  city 
itself,  as  she  enlarged  her  borders,  was  celebrated,  especially 
in  the  twelfth  century,  as  a  school  of  theology. 

Probably  no  other  religious  foundation  could  boast  of  such 
a  brilliant  triad  of  doctors  of  divinity,  as  the  one  that  graced 
this  Abbey  during  that  century  in  the  persons  of  Hugh  of  St. 
Victor,  known  to  his  generation  as  Lingua  Augustini ;  his 
pupil,  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  named  Alter  Augustinus  ;  and 
Adam  of  St.  Victor,  the  author  of  the  Sequences  *  in  these 
volumes,  who,  as  will  be  apparent  to  the  most  cursory  reader 
even,  was  deeply  versed  in  the  learning  of  the  school  to  which 
he  belonged.  Beyond  the  fact,  however,  that  they  were 
monks  of  St.  Victor,  whose  residence  there — one  or  other  of 
them — covered  nearly  the  whole  of  the  twelfth  century,  the 
accounts  that  we  have  left  of  them  are  exceedingly  meagre 
and  uncertain.  They  live  for  us  now-a-days,  very  much  as 
they  must  have  lived,  in  the  retirement  of  their  monastic  life, 
for  their  contemporaries,  only  in  the  books  which  they 

1  "  SEQUENCE.  The  prolongation  of  the  verstcle  of  the  Alleluia, 
instituted  in  order  to  give  the  deacon  time  to  reach  the  pulpit  to  chant 
the  Gospel.  Gradually  words  were  set  to  this  cadence,  and  so  came  the 
Sequence.  It  is  ascribed  alike  to  S.  Notker  and  Alcuin  ;  the  Sequences 
in  rhythm  are  a  development  of  later  days.  Originally  the  Sequence 
was  called  a  Prose,  because  its  early'  form  was  rhythmical  prose." — 
Orby  Shipley's  "  Glossary  of  Ecclesiastical  Terms  "(1872). 


xx  ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 

wrote, — of  which,  in  all  probability,  we  know  more  than 
their  own  generation  did. 

Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  the  oldest  of  them,  was  by  birth  a 
Saxon  ;  when  he  entered  the  Monastery  of  St  Victor  we  are 
not  told.  All  we  can  glean  about  his  chronology  is  that  he 
died  there  either  in  A.D.  1139,  or  one  of  the  two  following 
years. 

Richard  of  St.  Victor,  his  pupil,  and  a  native  of  Scotland, 
was  more  closely  contemporaneous  with  Adam,  the  last  and 
most  brilliant  of  the  three.  There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  was  nearly  of  the  same  age  as  the  latter,  though  his 
life  was  by  no  means  so  prolonged  as  that  of  Adam,  if  we  are 
to  accept  the  authority  of  an  old  MS.,  quoted  by  Gautier,  as 
quoted  by  John  of  Toulouse  ;  which  describes  the  poet  as 
being  "  Richardi  Victorini  contemporaneus,  sed  longe 
superstes." 

Of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  (so  scanty  are  the  materials  for  a 
biographical  notice  of  him),  we  cannot  certainly  prove  even 
the  nationality.  This  much  only  seems  to  be  certain,  that  he 
was  a  native  either  of  England  or  Brittany.  He  is  described 
generally  in  the  MSS.  of  the  period  immediately  succeeding 
his  own  as  Brito,  and  the  question  remains,  and  must  remain, 
unsettled,  as  to  which  of  the  two  countries  for  which  he  is 
claimed  as  a  native,  that  term  refers.  Of  course  in  an  Abbey 
where  so  many  of  the  monks  were  evidently  foreigners, — for 
neither  Hugh  nor  Richard  were  Frenchmen, — it  is  possible 
that  the  great  Mediaeval  poet  was  a  fellow-countryman  of 
ours ;  but  Archbishop  Trench — and  it  is  a  point  upon  which, 
as  upon  most  others,  we  may  safely  defer  to  his  better  judg- 
ment— concludes,  that  "the  fact  that  France  was  the  main 
seat  of  Latin  poetry  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  that  all  the 
most  famous  composers  in  this  kind,  as  Hildebert,  the  two 
Bernards,  Abelard,  Marbod,  Peter  the  Venerable,  were 
Frenchmen,  leaves  it  more  likely  that  he,  the  first  and  fore- 
most of  all,  was  such  as  well ! " 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  xxi 

M.  Gautier  entertains  no  doubt, — and  he  has  evidently 
been  most  indefatigable  in  his  researches  into  all  that  relates 
personally,  or  poetically,  to  the  object  of  them, — that,  be  he 
"  Breton  "  or  "  Briton,"  Adam  entered  the  religious  founda- 
tion of  St.  Victor,  as  a  young  man,  about  A.D.  1130;  after 
having,  as  Archbishop  Trench  says,  "made  his  studies  at 
Paris."  Here  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  which  was 
prolonged  certainly  to  A.D.  1172,  and  probably,  according  to 
M.  Gautier,  to  A.D.  1192.  And  here  he  wrote  at  various 
times,  as  the  occasion  called  each  forth,  the  series,  and  it  is 
not  a  short  one,  of  the  Sequences  on  which  his  claim  to  lite- 
rary honours  mainly  rests,  and  of  which — however  much 
English  Churchmen  must,  in  many  points,  decline  to  follow 
their  doctrinal  teaching  —  very  few  will  fail  to  recognize  the 
exceeding  beauty,  looked  at  as  classical  compositions  merely, 
and  fewer  still,  one  would  hope,  to  appreciate  at  their  real 
value  the  exactness  of  their  author's  theology  when  dealing 
with  the  great  Catholic  doctrines  which  are  common  to 
almost  the  whole  of  Christendom,  or  the  devotional  spirit  that 
breathes  throughout  his  writings. 

Lord  Coleridge,  the  present  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England, 
in  his  preface  to  a  re-publication  by  him  in  1872  of  the 
seventeenth  century  edition  in  English  of  "  A  Mirror  of 
Monks,"  by  Lewis  Blosius,  expresses  so  completely  the  senti- 
ments by  which  I  have  been  animated  in  dealing  with  the 
works  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor,  that  I  gladly  and  gratefully 
avail  myself  of  his  lordship's  permission  to  quote  a  few 
sentences  from  it  here,  feeling  sure  that  the  reader  will  be 
glad  to  have  an  opinion  on  such  a  point  from  one  whose 
opinion  upon  any  point  must  carry  great  weight  with  it : — 

"It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  I  do  not  agree  with 
every  theological  doctrine  which  Blosius  assumes  or  inculcates 
in  his  book  ;  but  I  think  the  book  in  itself  a  good  and  beauti- 
ful book.  I  believe  the  writer  of  it  to  have  been  a  holy  man  ; 
and  I  do  not  think  it  right,  in  spite  of  high  authority  to  the 


xxii  ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 

contrary,  to  mutilate  or  adapt  such  works  as  these.  To  do 
so  appears  to  me  unmanly  and  unfair.  It  is  as  if  we  were 
afraid  of  the  soundness  of  our  convictions,  and  dared  not  look 
in  the  face  the  fact  that  good  men  of  other  times  did  not 
share  them.  Whereas  it  is  part  of  Christian  history  that 
very  good  and  saintly  men  have  held  opinions  in  religion 
which  we  now  think  mistaken  ;  and  it  is  a  narrow  and 
shallow  judgment  which  holds  such  opinions  to  be  inconsistent 
with  true  and  vital  Christianity.  This  book,  to  my  mind, 
proves  that  they  are  nowise  inconsistent :  and  I  most  earnestly 
hope  that  those  who  read  it  carefully  will  think  so  too." 

The  reader  will  have  the  opportunity  of  judging  for  himself 
as  to  the  merits  of  the  various  Sequences  as  they  come  before 
him  ;  but  it  may  be  well,  perhaps,  to  say  a  few  words  as  to 
their  general  character,  and  I  know  not  that  they  can  be  said 
better  than  by  one'who  has  so  thoroughly  identified  his  name 
with  Latin  hymnology  generally,  and  especially  with  that  of 
the  "  Victorine  School,"  as  the  present  Archbishop  (Trench) 
of  Dublin : — 

"Very  different  estimates  have  been  formed  of  the  merits 
of  Adam  of  St.  Victor's  hymns.  His  most  zealous  admirers 
will  hardly  deny  that  he  pushes  too  far,  and  plays  overmuch 
with,  his  skill  in  the  typical  application  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. So,  too,  they  must  own  that  sometimes  he  is  unable  to 
fuse  his  manifold  learned  allusion  into  the  passion  of  his 
poetry.  .  .  .  Nor  less  must  it  be  allowed  that  he  is  some- 
times guilty  of  conceits,  of  plays  upon  words,  not  altogether 
worthy  of  the  solemnity  of  his  theme.  Thus  of  one  Martyr 
he  says : — 

1  Sub  securi  stat  securus  ; ' 

of  another,  Saint  [Vincent]  namely  : — 

'  Dum  torretur,  non  terretur ; ' 

of  the  Blessed  Virgin  (for  he  did  not  escape,  as  it  was  not  to 
be  expected  that  he  should,  the  exaggerations  of  his  time) : — 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  xxiii 

'  O  dulcis  vena  veniae  ; ' 
of  heaven : — 

'  O  quam  beata  curia, 
Quae  curae  prorsus  nescia.' 

Sometimes,  too,  he  is  overfond  of  displaying  feats  of  skill  in 
versification,  or  prodigally  accumulating,  or  curiously  inter- 
lacing his  rhymes,  that  he  may  show  his  perfect  mastery  of 
the  forms  which  he  is  using,  and  how  little  he  is  confined  or 
trammelled  by  them. 

"  These  faults  it  will  be  seen  are  indeed  most  of  them  but 
merits  pushed  into  excess.  And  even  accepting  them  as 
defects,  his  profound  acquaintance  with  the  whole  circle  of 
the  theology  of  his  time,  and  eminently  with  its  exposition  of 
Scripture, — the  abundant  and  admirable  use,  with  indeed  the 
drawback  already  mentioned,  which  he  makes  of  it,  deliver- 
ing as  he  thus  does  his  poems  from  the  merely  subjective  cast 
of  those,  beautiful  as  they  are,  of  St.  Bernard, — the  exquisite 
art  and  variety  with  which  for  the  most  part  his  verse  is 
managed  and  his  rhymes  disposed, — their  rich  melody  multi- 
plying and  ever  deepening  at  the  close, — the  strength  which 
he  often  concentrates  into  a  single  line,1  his  skill  in  conduct- 
ing a  story, — and,  most  of  all,  the  evident  nearness  of  the 
things  which  he  celebrates  to  his  own  heart  of  hearts,  — all 
these,  and  other  excellencies,  render  him,  as  far  as  my  judg- 
ment goes,  the  foremost  among  the  sacred  Latin  poets  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  He  may  have  no  single  poem  to  vie  with  the 
austere  grandeur  of  the  Dies  Ira,  nor  yet  with  the  tearful 
passion  of  the  Stabat  Mater,  although  concerning  the  last 
point  there  might  well  be  a  question ;  but  then  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  these  stand  well-nigh  alone  in  the  names  of 

'  Thus  of  a  Roman  governor,  who,  alternating  flatteries  with  threats, 
is  seeking  to  bribe  St.  Agnes  from  her  allegiance  to  Christ  by  the  offer  of 
worldly  dignities  and  honours  : — 

"  Oflfert  multa,  spondet  plura, 

Periturus  peritura" 


xxiv  ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 

their  respective  authors,  while  from  his  ample  treasure-house 
I  shall  enrich  this  volume  with  a  multitude  of  hymns,  all  of 
them  of  considerable,  some  of  the  very  highest,  merit.  In- 
deed, were  I  disposed  to  name  any  one  who  might  dispute  the 
palm  of  sacred  Latin  poetry  with  him,  it  would  not  be  one  of 
these,  but  rather  Hildebert,  Archbishop  of  Tours."— Sacred 
Latin  Poetry,  pages  57-61. 

It  would  be  unnecessary  for  me,  even  were  I  able,  which  I 
am  not,  to  add  much  to  this  eloquent  and  exhaustive  sum- 
mary of  the  merits,  and  defects  as  well,  of  this  great  poet. 
One  point  only,  in  what  is  characteristic  of  the  author,  is  not 
touched  upon,  and  that  is  his  love  of  alliteration,  carried  at 
times  perhaps  to  an  excess  like  his  play  upon  words,1  but 
often  used  with  striking  effect 

The  history  of  the  Sequences  in  this  work  is  a  curious  and 
a  chequered  one.  As  I  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  notice, 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor,  which  in  our  poet's  time  was  in  the 
suburbs  of  Paris,  was  by  the  growth  of  the  town  afterwards 
included  within  its  walls.  There  it  remained  undisturbed, 
and  having  Adam  of  St.  Victor's  poetry  in  its  library,  until 
the  French  Revolution,  when,  in  common  with  all  others,  its 
religious  foundation  was  dissolved,  its  inmates  dispersed,  and 
its  precious  MSS.  removed,  as  it  appeared  afterwards,  to  the 
National  Library  in  the  Louvre.  Some  of  Adam's  Sequences 
had,  during  the  centuries  that  the  MSS.  remained  in  the 
custody  of  the  monks  of  the  author's  monastery,  found  their 
way  into  circulation,  thirty-seven  of  them  with  his  name 
attached  to  them,  and  a  few  others  without  any  trace  of  the 

'  Take  this  instance  from  the  Sequence  "On  the  Passion  of  St. 
Quintin : " — 

"  Propter  jugum  Christi  lene, 
Premunt  compes  et  catenae 

Carcerali  clausum  cella ; 
Sed  triumphal  bonus  bene 
Universum  genus  poense, 

Famem,  frigus,  et  flagella." 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR.  xxv 

writer.  The  thirty-seven  were  collected  and  published  by 
Clichtoveus,  "a  Roman  Catholic  theologian  of  the  first  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,"  in  his  "  Elucidatorium  Ecclesiasti- 
cum,"  which  passed  through  several  editions  from  1515  to  1556 
at  Paris,  Basle,  and  Geneva.  This  work,  which  was  written 
originally  for  the  instruction  of  the  clergy  in  the  meaning  of 
the  various  offices  of  the  Church,  according  to  Archbishop 
Trench,  became  invaluable  to  those  who  made  Mediaeval 
Hymnology  their  study,  and  was  in  fact  the  only  collection  of 
it  on  a  large  scale. 

The  remainder  of  the  Sequences  contained  in  these  volumes, 
and  which  never  saw  the  light  (until  they  were  discovered  in 
the  Louvre)  from  the  date  of  the  French  Revolution  up  to 
the  middle  of  this  century,  we  owe  to  the  persevering  search 
after  them  which  M.  Gautier  made  about  the  latter  date. 
Those  published  by  him  for  the  first  time  are  forty-eight  in 
number,  and  include  some  of  the  most  striking  of  the  whole 
collection.  Of  three  the  first  line  only  survives,  the  remainder 
of  the  Sequences  not  having  been  found  as  yet ;  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  there  may  be  more  still  written  by  Adam 
which  cannot  be  assigned  to  him  now,  because  it  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that,  numerous  as  those  hymns  are  of  which  he  will 
henceforth  have  the  credit,  we  do  not  possess  a  single  Sequence 
of  which  he  was  professedly  the  author,  upon  so  central  a 
Christian  truth  as  the  Passion  of  our  Lord,  or  one  for  Lent 
or  Advent,  which  could  hardly,  one  would  imagine,  have 
been  the  case  always,  seeing  that  the  rest  of  the  Christian  year 
is  so  largely  illustrated  in  his  writings. 

The  collection,  as  M.  Gautier  gave  it  to  the  world,  consisted 
of  106  Sequences,  satisfactorily  proved  to  have  come  from 
Adam  of  St.  Victor's  pen,  viz.,  thirty-seven  published  and 
attributed  to  the  author  by  Clichtoveus,  two  published  by  him 
without  attribution,  seventeen  published  in  other  collections 
without  attribution,  forty-seven  published  for  the  first  time  by 
.Gautier,  and  the  three  mentioned  above  of  which  we  have  as 


xxvi  ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR. 

yet  only  the  first  line.  Besides  these,  however,  there  is  the 
Epitaph  of  Adam,  of  which  only  the  first  ten  lines  were 
written  by  him,  and  eight  Sequences  doubtfully  or  wrongly 
attributed  to  him,  but  included  in  M.  Gautier's  volumes. 
All  these,  arranged  as  they  were  in  the  French  edition,  will 
be  found  in  that  now  offered  to  the  public. 

The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  be  struck  by  the  great  variety 
of  metres  employed  by  the  poet,  not  only  in  the  Sequences, 
taken  as  a  whole,  but  also  in  single  Sequences.  In  some  the 
metre  changes  several  times  during  the  course  of  them,  and 
even  single  stanzas  are  constantly  subjected  to  the  same 
process.  The  effect  is  to  give  great  variety  to  the  hymns, 
generally  and  singly, — enabling  the  poet  to  introduce  an 
amount  of  light  and  shade  into  his  compositions  which  is 
impossible  when  one  metre  is  rigidly  adhered  to  throughout 
a  poem.  As  all  Adam's  Sequences  were  originally  set  to 
music  and  used  in  the  worship  of  his  Abbey,  a  suggestion  is 
perhaps  allowable  on  my  part,  as  to  whether  we  might  not  now- 
a-days  have  some  of  the  music  in  our  choral  services  arranged 
upon  a  similar  plan.  As  it  is,  we  have  nothing  between  the 
ordinary  hymn  in  which  the  metre  never  changes,  and  for 
which,  therefore,  the  same  tune  must  be  used  throughout,  and 
anthems,  which,  beautiful  as  they  are,  are  far  too  elaborate 
and  difficult  for  general  use  in  our  churches.  The  arrange- 
ment of  these  Mediaeval  hymns  appears  to  me  to  combine  the 
advantages,  without  the  defects,  of  both  hymns  and  anthems, — 
possessing  as  they  do  all  the  simplicity  of  the  first  without 
their  sameness,  and  much  of  the  variety  of  the  last  without 
their  elaborateness.  If  we  could  vary  the  tunes  in  a  single 
hymn,  as  is  often  done,  as  it  is,  in  the  Te  Deum  or  the 
Psalms  of  the  day,  we  should  be  enabled  to  increase  not 
only  the  length  of  the  hymns,  which  are  now  confined  to  four 
or  six  verses,  but  to  add  to  their  devotional  effect  as  well  by 
having  both  the  metre  in  which,  and  the  music  to  which  the 
words  are  set  somewhat  more  appropriate  to  the  sentiments 
sought  to  be  expressed  than  is  always  the  case  now. 


ADAM  OF  ST.    VICTOR,  xxvii 

But  the  metres  of  our  poet  are  not  only  various  in  their 
arrangement,  they,  as  a  well-known  labourer  in  the  mine 
of  Mediaeval  Hymnology,  the  Rev.  Louis  Coutier  Biggs,  says, 
"absolutely  bristle  with  rhymes,  ....  These  are  distin- 
guished," he  adds  "  into — 

"  Leonines,  rhyming  the  middle  with  the  end  of  the  line, 
thus : — 

'  Urit  ira  tua  dim 
O  Trajane  inhuman* 

Proprw  ex  vitio 
Sanctum  Christi  quum  jusszsti 
Flagellarr,  crucian' 

Nim/0  supplied.' 

"  Caudate,  or  tail-rhymes,  are  final  rhymes  following  each 
other  closely,  as  ....  the  hymn  : — 

'  Lux  illuxit  Dominica, 
Lux  insignis,  lux  unica,        • 
Lux  lucis  et  laetit&?, 
Lux  immortalis  glorzV?. 

'  Diem  mundi  condit/V; 
Commendat  ab  init/c, 
Quam  Christi  resurrect/.? 
Ditavit  privilegz'0.' 

"  Interlaqueate,  or  interlaced  rhymes,  are  such  as  we  find  in 
the  Spenserian  stanza,  or  in  the  poetry  of  Dante,  e.g. : " — ' 

"  Mundi  renovatio 

Nova  pant  gaudia  ; 
Resurgenti  Domino 

Conresurgunt  omnia. 
£lementa  serviunt, 
Et  auctoris  sentiunt 

Quanta  sint  sollenmia." 

The  critical  reader,  who  may  desire  to  follow  up  more 
closely  than  it  is  requisite  to  do  in  this  notice  of  Adam  of 
St.  Victor,  this  part  of  the  subject,  will  find  an  interesting 

'  "  Monthly  Packet "  (New  Series),  vol.  xi.  page  544. 


xxviii  ADAM  OF  ST.   VICTOR. 

account  of  the  metres  employed  by  the  poet  in  Neatis 
"  Epistola  de  Sequentiis,"  published  by  Daniel  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  "  Thesaurus  Hymnologicus,"  vol.  v.  ;  as  well  as 
in  Gauffer's  Introductory  Essay  on  Adam  and  his  Poetical 
and  Prose  Works,  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  1858-59. 

I  will  conclude  this  brief  introductory  notice  of  one  who 
has  been  described  by  Rambach  as  the  "  Schiller  of  the 
Middle  Ages ;  "  by  Dom  Gueranger  as  "  le  plus  grande  poete 
du  moyen  age  ;"  and  by  Dr.  Neale — with  almost  pardonable 
exaggeration — as"to  my  mind  the  greatest  Latin  poet,  not  only 
of  Mediaeval,  but  of  all,  ages,"  with  the  passage  that  immedi- 
ately follows  that  just  quoted  from  the  last-named  writer  in 
his  Preface  to  "Mediaeval  Hymns,"  page  x. 

"  It  is  a  magnificent  thing  to  pass  along  the  far-stretching 
vista  of  hymns, — from  the  sublime  self-con tainedness  of  S. 
Ambrose  to  the  more  fervid  inspiration  of  S.  Gregory,  the 
exquisite  typology  of  Venantius  Fortunatus,  the  lovely  paint- 
ing of  S.  Peter  Damiani,  the  crystal-like  simplicity  of  S. 
Notker,  the  scriptural  calm  of  Godescalcus,  the  subjective 
loveliness  of  S.  Bernard,  till  all  culminate  in  the  full  blaze  of 
glory  which  surrounds  Adam  of  S.  Victor,  the  greatest  of  all . 
And  though  Thomas  of  Celano  in  one  unapproachable  se- 
quence distanced  him,  and  the  author,  whoever  he  were,  of 
the  Verbum  Dei  Deo  natum  once  equalled  him,  what  are  we  to 
think  of  the  genius  that  could  pour  forth  one  hundred 
sequences,  of  which  fifty  at  least  are  unequalled  save  by  the 
Dies  Ira  ?  .  ,  .  .  Indeed,  Adam  is  worth  any  pains  and  any 
study." 


SEQUENCES   FOR  CHURCH   SEASONS. 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 


NATIVITAS   DOMINI. 

T)OTESTATE,  non  natura, 
\_     Fit  Creator  creatura, 
Reportetur  ut  factura 

Factor!  s  in  gloria. 

Prasdicatus  per  prophetas,  5 

Quern  non  capit  locus,  setas, 
Nostrse  sortis  intrat  metas, 

Non  relinquens  propria. 

Castitatis  in  tenorem, 

Plasma  gignit  plasmatorem,  10 

Virgo  parit  amatorem, 

Lactat  patrem  filia. 
Argumentum  geniturse 
Hujus  nescit  jus  naturae ; 
Suse  legis  fracto  jure,  15 

Stupet  de  potentia. 

Ccelum  terris  inclinatur, 
Homo-Deus  adunatur ; 
Adunato  famulatur 


CHRISTMAS. 


CHRISTMAS. 

'THHE  Creator,  not  by  nature 

JL     But  by  might,  becomes  a  creature, 
That  with  glory  the  Creator 

May  His  creature  once  more  crown. 
Presaged  in  the  prophets'  pages,  5 

He,  Who  of  no  place  or  age  is, 
Enters  on  our  life's  brief  stages, 

Not  relinquishing  His  own. 

Virgin  still,  the  creature  giveth 

Birth  to  Him  through  Whom  she  liveth  ;     10 

Maiden's  womb  her  spouse  conceiveth ; 

Daughter's  breasts  her  father  feed. 
Nature's  law  no  instance  knoweth 
Of  such  birth  as  this  one  showeth  ; 
And,  since  it  all  law  o'erthroweth,  15 

Nature  trembles  at  the  deed. 

Heaven  to  earth  hath  condescended ; 
Man  is  with  the  Godhead  blended, 
And  the  Man-God  is  attended 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Ccelestis  familia.  20 

Rex  sacerdos  consecratur 
Generalis,  quod  monstratur 
Cum  pax  terris  nuntiatur 

Et  in  altis  gloria. 

Causam  quseris,  modum  rei :  25 

Causa  prius  omnes  rei, 
Modus  justum  velle  Dei, 

Sed  conditum  gratia. 
O  quam  dulce  condimentum 
Nobis  mutans  in  pigmentum  30 

Cum  aceto  fel  cruentum 

Degustante  Messya ! 
O  salubre  sacramentum, 
Quod  nos  ponit  in  jumentum 
Plagis  nostris  dans  unguentum  35 

Ille  de  Samaria ! 


Ille  alter  Elyseus, 
Reputatus  homo  reus, 
Suscitavit  homo-Deus 

Sunamitis  puerum.  40 

Hie  est  gigas  currens  fortis, 
Qui,  destructo  lege  mortis, 
Ad  amcena  primae  sortis 

Ovem  fert  in  humemm. 


CHRISTMAS.  5 

By  celestial  ministry.  20 

That,  as  priest,  is  consecrated 
Heaven's  king,  is  demonstrated ; 
Peace  on  earth  is  promulgated, 

Glory  unto  God  on  high  ! 

\ 

Ask'st  thou  why  ?  how?  this  beginneth.       25 
Why  ?  because  mankind  first  sinneth ; 
How?   God's  just  will  then  combineth 

With  His  grace  to  break  sin's  thrall. 
O  how  sweet  their  blended  savour, 
Changing  into  spiced  wine's  flavour,  30 

When  Christ  tasted,  man  to  favour, 

Bitter  vinegar  and  gall ! 
O  dread  mystery,  soul-reviving ! 
When  Samaria's  son  arriving 
Sets,  for  wounds  a  balm  contriving,  35 

On  His  own  beast  those  that  fall ! 

He,  Elisha's  true  successor, 
God-man,  counted  a  transgressor, 
To  the  Shunamite,  to  bless  her, 

Hath  restored  her  son  again.  40 

As  a  giant  runs  He  joying, 
Who,  His  shoulder's  strength  employing, 
Bears  His  sheep,  Death's  law  destroying, 

Back  to  primal  joys  of  men. 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Vivit,  regnat  Deus-homo,  45 

Trahens  orco  lapsum  porno ; 
Ccelo  tractus  gaudet  homo 
Denum  complens  numerum. 

Patris  mater,  meta  vatum, 
Ora  Patrem,  jube  natum,  50 

Nos  ut  ducat  ad  hunc  statum 
Plenum  pace,  gloria, 
Quo  refecti 
Visu  Dei 

Cantemus  Alleluia.  55 

— Amen  dicant  omnia  ! 


CHRISTMAS.  7 

As  God-man  He  lives  and  reigneth,  45 

And  lost  man  from  hell  restraineth ; 
Man  with  joy  heaven's  realms  obtaineth, 
Filling  up  its  orders  ten. 

Heaven's  Sire's  mother,  goal  of  sages  ! 
Pray  that  Father  through  all  ages,  50 

Tell  thy  Son  to  point  our  stages  . 
To  where  peace  and  glory  reign ; 
Till  there,  being 
Braced,  God  seeing, 

Lift  we  Alleluia's  strain,  55 

Let  creation  say  "  Amen  ! " 


N ATI  VITAS  DOMIXI. 

II. 
NATIVITAS   DOMINI. 

IN  excelsis  canitur 
Nato  regi  gloria, 
Per  quern  terrse  redditur 
Et  coelo  concordia. 

Jure  dies  colitur  5 

Christ!  natalitia, 
Quo  nascente  nascitur 

Novae  legis  gratia. 

Mediator  nobis  datus 

In  salutis  pretium  10 

Non  naturae,  sed  reatus 

Refugit  consortium. 

Non  amitrit  claritatem 

Stella  fundens  radium 
Nee  Maria  castitatem  15 

Pariendo  filium. 


CHRISTMAS. 

II. 
CHRISTMAS, 

IN  the  highest,  hark  !  the  strain, 
"  Glory  to  the  new-born  King  ! 
Who  doth  with  Him  peace,  again 
Joining  earth  and  heaven,  bring  ! " 

Honour  thus  is  paid  aright 

Unto  this,  Christ's  natal  morn ; 

At  Whose  birth  the  grace  so  bright 
Of  a  new-made  law  is  born. 


The  appointed  Mediator, 

Our  salvation's  price  to  pay,  10 

Not  His  share  in  human  nature, 

But  its  misdeeds,  puts  away. 

Not  a  whit  less  bright  appearing, 

The  life-giving  star  we  see ; 
Nor  doth  Mary  by  child-bearing  1 5 

Lose  her  spotless  chastity. 


NATI VITAS  DOMINI. 

Quid  de  monte  lapis  caesus 
Sine  manu,  nisi  Jesus 

Qui  de  regum  tinea, 

Sine  carnis  opere,  20 

De  carne  puerpera 

Processit  virginea  ? 

Solitudo  floreat 

Et  desertum  gaudeat ! 

Virga  Jesse  floruit  25 

Radix  virgam,  virga  florem, 
Virgo  profert  Salvatorem, 

Sicut  lex  prsecinuit. 

Radix  David  typum  gessit, 

Virga  matris  quse  processit  30 

Ex  regali  semine ; 
Flos  est  Puer  nobis  natus, 
Jure  flori  comparatus 

Prae  mira  dulcedine. 

In  praesepe  reclinatur,  35 

Cujus  ortus  celebratur 

Coelesti  praeconio. 

Coeli  cives  jubilant, 

Dum  pastores  vigilant 

Sub  noctis  silentio.  40 


CHRISTMAS.  1 1 

What  is  this  rock-stone  so  precious, 
Quarried  not  by  hand,  but  Jesus, 

Scion  of  a  line  of  kings, 

Who,  begot,  without  man's  aid,  20 

Of  a  pure  yet  pregnant  maid, 

From  her  fleshly  nature  springs  ? 

Let  the  desert  blossom  forth ; 

Joy,  waste  places  of  the  earth  1 

Jesse's  rod  doth  flowers  unfold.  25 

Root  it  brancheth,  branch  it  bloometh, 
Virgin-born,  a  Saviour  cometh, 

As  the  law  of  old  foretold. 

David's  self  that  root  portended ; 

Mary  is  that  branch,  descended  30 

From  that  seed  of  royal  line  : 
He,  the  Son  unto  us  given, 
Is  its  flower,  a  flower  from  heaven, 

Since  its  fragrance  is  divine. 

He,  Whose  birth's  due  celebration  35 

Forms  the  angels'  proclamation, 
In  a  manger-cradle  lies  ; 
Heavenly  hosts  therein  delight, 
Whilst  the  shepherds  watch  by  night 
'Neath  the  silence  of  the  skies.  40 


12  N ATI  VITAS  DOMINI. 

Cuncta  laudes  intonant 

Super  partum  Virginis ; 
Lex  et  psalmi  consonant 

Prophetarum  paginis. 

Angelorum  et  pastorum,  45 

Stellae  simul  et  magorum 

Concordant  indicia ; 
Reges  currunt  Orientis 
Ad  pnesepe  vagientis, 

Gentium  primordia.  50 

Jesu,  puer  immortalis, 
Ex  aterno  temporalis, 
Nos  ab  hujus  vitse  malis 

Tu  potenter  erue. 

Tu,  post  vitam  hanc  mortalem,          55 
Sive  mortem  hanc  vitalem, 
Vitam  nobis  immortalem 

Clementer  restitue.     Amen. 


CHRISTMAS.  13 

All  things  shouts  of  joy  upraise 

For  the  Virgin's  Son  most  high ; 
Him  the  law  and  psalms  too  praise 

With  the  page  of  prophecy. 

Angels',  shepherds',  salutations,  45 

Stars'  and  wise  men's  indications, 

In  their  object  all  agree  : 
Haste  those  Eastern  kings  where,  crying, 
In  a  crib  a  Babe  is  lying, 

Who  the  Gentile  first-fruits  be.  50 

Infant  Jesu,  death-bound  never ! 
For  a  time  and  yet  for  ever  ! 
By  Thy  might  mankind  deliver 

From  this  life's  adversity : 
When  this  mortal  life  is  ended,  55 

From  this  living  death  ascended, 
By  Thy  clemency  befriended, 

Grant  us  deathless  life  with  Thee  !     Amen. 


14  NATI  VITAS  DOMINI. 

III. 
NATIVITAS   DOMINI. 

IN  natale  Salvatoris 
Angelorum  nostra  choris 
Succinat  conditio : 
Harmonia  diversorum, 
Sed  in  unum  redactorum  5 

Dulcis  est  connexio. 

Felix  dies  hodiernus, 
In  quo  Patri  coseternus 

Nascitur  ex  Virgine ! 
Felix  dies  et  jocundus  !  10 

Illustrari  gaudet  mundus 

Veri  solis  lumine. 

Ne  periret  homo  reus, 
Redemptorem  misit  Deus, 

Pater  unigenitum ;  1 5 

Visitavit  quos  amavit 
Nosque  vitae  revocavit 

Gratia,  non  meritum. 


CHRISTMAS.  15 

III. 
CHRISTMAS. 

SINCE  a  Saviour  is  born  for  us, 
With  the  angels  in  glad  chorus 
Let  our  race  unite  to-day : 
Sweetly  sound  such  hymns  uprising, 
Different  voices  harmonizing  5 

All  their  praises  in  one  lay. 

Happy  day,  when  the  Supernal, 
With  the  Father  co-eternal, 

Of  a  Virgin  comes  to  birth  ! 
Day  of  joy  and  jubilation,  10 

When  the  bright  illumination 

Of  the  true  Sun  lights  glad  earth  ! 

God  hath  a  Redeemer  given, 

His,  the  Father's,  Son  from  heaven, 

That  the  sinner  should  not  die :  r  5 

It  is  grace  alone,  not  merit, 
Gives  us  new  life  through  the  Spirit, 

Visiting  God's  family. 


16  NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Infinitus  et  immensus 

Quern  non  capit  ullus  sensus  20 

Nee  locorum  spatia, 
Ex  aeterno  temporalis, 
Ex  immenso  fit  localis, 

Ut  restauret  omnia ! 

Non  peccatum,  sed  peccati  25 

Formam  sumens,  vetustati 

Nostrae  se  contemperat : 
Immortalis  se  mortal!, 
Spiritalis  corporali, 

Ut  natura  conferat  30 

Sic  concurrunt  in  persons 
Singularis  unione 

Verbum,  caro,  spiritus, 
Ut  natura  non  mutetur, 
Nee  persona  geminetur,  35 

Sed  sit  una  penitus. 

Tanta5  rei  sacramentum 
Latet  hostem  fraudulentum ; 

Fallitur  malitia. 

Caucus  liostis  non  praesagit  40 

Quod  sub  nube  carnis  agit 

Dei  sapientia. 


CHRISTMAS.  17 

Infinite  and  in  all  places, 

He,  whom  sense  and  earth's  wide  spaces     20 

Comprehend  not  nor  contain, 
Though  eternal,  time  obeyeth, 
And,  though  everywhere,  here  stayeth, 

All  things  to  restore  again  ! 

He  sin's  form,  without  sin,  weareth,  25 

And,  to  be  made  like  us,  shareth 

Our  worn-out  existence  here ; 
That  the  temporal  and  eternal, 
That  the  spiritual  and  carnal, 

Natures  might  thus  linked  appear.  30 

So  the  Word  and  Flesh  and  Spirit 
Doth  one  Person  thus  inherit 

In  mysterious  union, 
That  no  change  its  nature  showeth, 
Nor  two-fold  that  Person  groweth,  35 

But  is  altogether  one. 

This  great  mystery  lies  ever 
Hidden  from  man's  base  deceiver, 

And  at  fault  his  malice  is  : 
That  the  wisdom  of  the  Godhead  40 

'Neath  the  veil  of  flesh  is  shrouded 

Our  blind  enemy  ne'er  sees. 
c 


18  NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Hujus  nodum  sacramenti 
Non  subtilis  argument! 

Solvit  inquisitio.  45 

Modum  nosse  non  est  tneum ; 
Scio  tamen  posse  Deum 

Quod  non  capit  ratio. 

Quam  subtile  Dei  consilium  ! 

Quam  sublime  rei  mysterium  !  50 

Virga  florem, 

Vellus  rorem, 
Virgo  profert  filium. 

Nee  pudorem  laesit  conceptio, 

Nee  virorem  floris  emissio  ;  55 

Concipiens 

Et  pariens 
Comparatur  lilio. 

O  Maria,  Stella  maris, 

Post  Deum  spes  singularis  60 

Naufragantis  saeculi, 
Vide  quam  nos  fraudulenter, 
Quam  nos  vexant  violenter 

Tot  et  tales  aemuli. 

Per  te  virtus  nobis  detur,  65 

Per  te,  mater,  exturbetur 
Daemonum  superbia ; 


CHKISTMAS.  19 

This  deep  mystery's  complication 
No  abstruse  investigation 

By  induction  can  explain.  45 

"Pis  not  mine  to  know  its  measure, 
But  I  wot  that  God's  good  pleasure 

Rules  where  reason  cannot  strain. 

O  how  deep  the  counsel  of  God  appears  ! 
How  sublime  the  mystery  it  declares  !  50 

Rod  a  flower, 

Fleece  a  shower, 
And  a  Son  a  Virgin  bears. 

Her  conception  hurt  not  her  chastity, 

Nor  its  blooming  that  ever  verdant  tree ;      55 

In  conceiving 

And  birth-giving, 
Lily-like,  still  pure  is  she  ! 

Mary,  star  of  ocean  !  giving 

To  this  shipwrecked  age  we  live  in  60 

After  God  its  hope  alone  ! 
See  what  rival  machinations, 
And  what  fierce  and  dire  temptations 

Vex  us  sorely  every  one. 

Virtue  unto  us  be  given,  65 

And  demonic  pride  be  driven 
Far  away  from  us  by  Thee ; 


20  NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Tuse  proli  nos  commenda, 
Ne  nos  brevis,  sed  tremenda 

Feriat  sententia.  70 

Jesu,  noster  salutaris, 
Qui  prudenter  operaris 

Salutis  mysterium, 
His  qui  colunt  hunc  natalem 
Da  salutem  temporalem,  75 

Da  perhenne  gaudium ! 


CHRISTMAS.  21 

To  thine  offspring  O  commend  us, 
Lest  His  brief  but  most  tremendous 

Sentence  crush  us  utterly.  7  o 

Jesu,  Who  art  our  salvation, 
Who  its  wondrous  operation 

With  such  wisdom  watchest  e'er ! 
Those,  who  keep  this  day,  defending, 
Here  Thy  help  to  them  extending,  75 

Grant  them  joy  for  evermore  ! 


22  N ATI  VITAS  DOMINI. 


IV. 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

LUX  est  orta  gentibus, 
In  umbra  sedentibus 
Et  mortis  caligine. 
Gaudet  miser  populus 
Quia  mundo  parvulus  5 

Nascitur  de  virgine. 

Ut  ascendat  homo  reus 
Condescendit  homo-Deus 

Hominis  miseriae. 

Quis  non  laudet  et  laetetur  ?  10 

Quis  non  gaudens  admiretur 

Opus  novae  gratiae  ? 

Quidnam  jocundius, 
Quidnam  secretius 

Tali  mysterio  ?  15 

O  quam  laudabilis  ! 
O  quam  mirabilis 

Dei  dignatio  ! 


CHRISTMAS.  23 

IV. 
CHRISTMAS. 

FOR  the  Gentiles  up  hath  sprung 
Light,  for  those  that  sate  among 
Darkness  and  in  death's  deep  gloom. 
Joys  a  people  all  forlorn, 
That  on  earth  a  Child  is  born  5 

From  a  spotless  maiden's  womb. 

Guilty  man  to  raise  to  heaven, 
Condescends  the  God-man  even 

To  our  nature's  misery. 

Who  would  not  with  joy  be  praising,  10 

Songs  of  wondering  gladness  raising, 

Grace-work  of  such  novelty  ? 

What  is  more  full  of  bliss, 
What  is  more  fathomless, 

Than  such  a  mystery?  15 

How  worthy  all  our  praise, 
How  unlike  human  ways, 

Is  God's  humility ! 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Hujus  nodum  sacramenti 

Non  subtilis  argument!  20 

Solvit  inquisitio. 
Modum  nosse  non  est  meum ; 
Scio  tamen  posse  Deum 

Quod  non  capit  ratio. 


Quam  subtile  Dei  consilium  \  25 

Quam  sublime  rei  mysterium  ! 

Virga  florem, 

Vellus  rorem, 
Virgo  profert  filium. 


Nee  pudorem  Isesit  conceptio,  30 

Nee  virorem  floris  emissio ; 

Concipiens 

Et  pariens 
Comparatur  lilio. 


O  Maria,  Stella  maris,  35 

Post  Deum  spes  singularis 

Naufragantis  sseculi, 
Vide  quam  nos  fraudulenter, 
Quam  nos  vexant  violenter 

Tot  et  tales  aemuli.  40 


CHRISTMAS.  25 

This  deep  mystery's  complication 

No  abstruse  investigation  20 

By  induction  can  explain. 
Tis  not  mine  to  know  its  measure, 
But  I  wot  that  God's  good  pleasure 

Rules  where  reason  cannot  strain. 


O  how  deep  the  counsel  of  God  appears  !    2  5 
How  sublime  the  mystery  it  declares  ! 

Rod  a  flower, 

Fleece  a  shower, 
And  a  Son  a  Virgin  bears  ! 


Her  conception  hurt  not  her  chastity,          30 
Nor  its  blooming  that  ever  verdant  tree ; 

In  conceiving 

And  birth-giving, 
Lily-like,  still  pure  is  she  ! 


Mary,  star  of  ocean  !  giving  35 

To  this  shipwrecked  age  we  live  in 

After  God  its  hope  alone  ! 
See  what  rival  machinations, 
And  what  fierce  and  dire  temptations 

Vex  us  sorely  every  one.  40 


26  NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Per  te  virtus  nobis  detur, 
Per  te,  mater,  exturbetur 

Daemonum  superbia ; 
Tuae  proli  nos  commenda, 
Ne  nos  brevis,  sed  tremenda  45 

Feriat  sententia. 


CHRISTMAS.  27 

Virtue  unto  us  be  given, 
And  demonic  pride  be  driven 

Far  away  from  us  by  Thee ; 
To  thine  offspring  O  commend  us, 
Lest  His  brief  but  most  tremendous        45 

Sentence  crush  us  utterly. 


28  NATIVITAS  DOMINI, 

V. 
"  NATIVITAS   DOMINI. 

T  UBILEMUS  Salvatori 
J    Quern  coelestes  laudant  chori 

Concordi  laetitia ; 
Pax  de  coelo  nuntiatur, 
Terra  coelo  fcederatur,  5 

Angelis  Ecclesia. 

Verbum  carni  counitum, 
Sicut  erat  prsefinitum, 

Sine  carnis  copula 

Virgo  parit,  Dei  templum,  10 

Nee  exemplar,  nee  exemplum 

Per  tot  habens  ssecula. 

Res  est  nova,  res  insignis, 
Quod  in  rubo  rubet  ignis 

Nee  rubum  attaminat :  15 

Cceli  rorant,  nubes  pluunt, 
[    Montes  stillant,  colles  fluunt, 

Radix  Jesse  germinal. 


CHRISTMAS.  29 

V. 

CHRISTMAS. 

SONGS  of  joy  let  us  be  raising 
To  that  Saviour  now,  in  praising 
Whom  with  us  heaven's  choirs  delight ; 
News  of  peace  from  heaven  is  brought  us, 
Heaven  is  leagued  with  earth  about  us,          5 
And  the  Church  with  angels  bright. 

God  the  Word,  with  our  flesh  blended, 
As  beforehand  was  intended, 

She,  who  never  knew  a  man, 
Virgin,  bears,  God's  temple  hallowed,  10 

Following  none,  by  no  one  followed, 

Ever  since  the  world  began. 

That  a  bush  with  red  fire  gloweth, 
Yet  the  fire  no  harm  there  doeth, 

Is  a  new  and  wondrous  thing :  15 

Heaven  drops  dew,  the  clouds  rain  fountains, 
Melt  the  hills  and  drip  the  mountains, 

Jesse's  root  doth  upward  spring. 


30  NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

De  radice  flos  ascendit 

Quern  prophetae  praeostendit  20 

Evidens  oraculum : 
Radix  Jesse  regem  David, 
Virga  matrem  designavit 

Virginem,  flos  parvulum. 

Ut  ascendat  homo  reus,  25 

Condescendit  homo-Deus 

Hominis  miseriae. 
Quis  non  laudet  et  laetetur  ? 
Quis  non  gaudens  admiretur 

Opus  novae  gratiae  ?  30 

Quidnam  jocundius, 
Quidnam  secretius 

Tali  mysterio  ? 
O  quam  mirabilis ! 
O  quam  laudabilis  35 

Dei  dignatio ! 

Mira  floris  pulchritude 
Quern  commendat  plenitudo 

Septiformis  gratiae. 

Recreemur  in  hoc  flore  40 

Qui  nos  gustu,  nos  odore, 

Nos  invitat  specie. 


CHRISTMAS.  31 

From  that  root  a  flower  upgroweth, 

As  the  prophet  plainly  showeth  20 

In  his  prophecy  of  yore  : 
David  as  that  root  appeareth, 
As  the  rod  the  maid  that  beareth, 

As  its  flower  the  Child  she  bore. 


Guilty  man  to  raise  to  heaven,  25 

Condescends  the  God-man  even 

To  our  nature's  misery. 
Who  would  not  with  joy  be  praising, 
Songs  of  wondering  gladness  raising, 

Grace- work  of  such  novelty?  30 

What  is  more  full  of  bliss, 
What  is  more  fathomless, 

Than  such  a  mystery  ? 
How  worthy  all  our  praise, 
How  unlike  human  ways,  35 

Our  God's  humility ! 

Wondrous  beauty  hath  the  flower, 
That  rich  grace's  sevenfold  dower 

Hath  commended  to  our  care. 
Let  us  in  this  flower  delight  us,  40 

Which  doth  both  by  taste  invite  us, 

And  by  scent  and  semblance  rare. 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Jesu,  puer  immortalis, 
Tuus  nobis  hie  natalis 

Pacem  det  et  gaudia ;  45 

Flos  et  fructus  virginalis, 
Cujus  odor  est  vitalis, 

Tibi  laus  ct  gloria ! 


CHRISTMAS.  33 

Jesu,  Infant  death-defying ! 
May  Thy  birthday  be  supplying 

Peace  to  us  and  joys  divine  :  45 

Flower  and  fruit  of  spotless  maiden, 
With  immortal  fragrance  laden  ! 

Glory  and  great  praise  be  Thine  ! 


34  NATI  VITAS  DOMINI. 

VI. 
NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

NATO  nobis  Salvatore 
Celebremus  cum  honore 

Diem  natalitium, 
Nobis  datus,  nobis  natus, 
Et  nobiscum  conversatus  5 

Lux  et  salus  gentium. 

Eva  prius  interemit, 
Sed  Salvator  nos  redemit 

Carnis  suse  merito. 

Prima  parens  nobis  luctum,  10 

Sed  Maria  vitae  fhictum 

Protulit  cum  gaudio. 

Negligentes  non  neglexit, 
Sed  ex  alto  nos  prospexit 

Pater  mittens  Filium ;  15 

Prsesens  mundo,  sed  absconsus, 
De  secreto  tanquam  sponsus 

Prodiit  in  publicum. 


CHRISTMAS.  35 

VI. 
CHRISTMAS. 

SINCE  a  Saviour  is  born  for  us, 
Let  us,  honouring  Him,  in  chorus 

Celebrate  His  natal  day, 
To  us  given,  for  us  even 
Born,  a  man  'mongst  men,  from  heaven,         5 
As  all  nations'  light  and  stay. 

Death  we  first  from  Eve  inherit, 
But  redemption  through  the  merit 

Of  the  Saviour's  fleshly  birth. 
Sorrow  our  first  parent  bore  us,  10 

But  the  fruit,  which  shall  restore  us, 

Mary  with  great  joy  brought  forth. 

Caring  for  the  careless  even, 

God  the  Father  looked  from  heaven, 

Sending  down  His  Son  on  earth  :  15 

In  the  world,  yet  from  it  hidden, 
As  a  bridegroom,  when  thus  bidden, 

From  His  chamber  Christ  came  forth. 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Gigas  velox,  gigas  fortis, 

Gigas  nostrse  victor  mortis,  20 

Accinctus  potentia, 
Ad  currendam  venit  viam, 
Complens  in  se  prophetiam 

Et  legis  mysteria. 

Jesu,  nostra  salutaris  25 

Medicina,  singularis 

Nostra  pax  et  gloria, 
Quia  servis  redimendis 
Tarn  decanter  condescendis, 

Te  collaudant  omnia !  30 


CHRISTMAS.  37 

Giant  swift  and  giant  glorious, 

Giant  o'er  our  death  victorious,  20 

Girt  with  power  and  majesty, 
Came  to  run  His  course,  fulfilling 
All  that  seers  had  been  foretelling, 

And  the  Law's  whole  mystery. 

Jesu,  our  salvation-giving  25 

Balm,  Who  only  on  all  living 

Peace  and  glory  canst  bestow  ! 
Since,  Thy  servants  to  deliver, 
Thou  dost  stoop  in  love,  for  ever 

All  things  join  Thy  praise  to  show  !  30 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 


VII. 
NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

QPLENDOR  Patris  et  figura 
v^       Se  conformans  homini 
Potestate,  non  natura, 

Partum  dedit  Virgin!. 


Adam  vetus,  5 

Tandem  Isetus, 
Novum  promat  canticum ; 

Fugitivus 

Et  captivus 
Prodeat  in  publicum  !  10 


Eva  luctum, 
Vitae  fructum 

Virgo  gaudens  edidit  ; 
Nee  sigillum 
Propter  ilium 

Castitatis  perdidit. 


CHRISTMAS.  39 

VII. 
CHRISTMAS. 

FASHIONED  as  a  human  creature, 
Christ,  His  Father's  image  clear, 
By  His  power,  and  not  by  nature, 

Caused  a  Virgin's  womb  to  bear. 


No  more  grieving, 

New  songs  weaving, 
Let  old  Adam  sing  for  mirth  ! 

Exiles  flying ! 

Captives  lying 
Prison-bound  !  come  boldly  forth  ! 


Eve  bore  sadness, 

But  with  gladness 
Fruit  of  life  a  Virgin  bears ; 

While  unbroken 

Still  the  token  15 

Of  her  chastity  appears. 


4°  NATIVITAS  DOMINL 

Si  crystallus  sit  humecta 
Atque  soli  sit  objecta, 

Scintillat  igniculum : 

Nee  crystallus  rumpitur,  20 

Nee  in  partu  solvitur 

Pudoris  signaculum. 

Super  tali  genitura 
Stupet  usus  et  natura, 

Deficitque  ratio ;  25 

Res  est  ineffabilis 

Tarn  pia,  tarn  humilis 

Christi  generatio. 

Frondem,  florem,  nucem  sicca 

Virga  profert,  et  pudica  30 

Virgo  Dei  Filium. 
Fert  ccelestem  vellus  rorem, 
Creatura  Creatorem, 

Creaturse  pretium. 

Frondis,  floris,  nucis,  roris  35 

Pietati  Salvatoris 

Congruunt  mysteria. 
Frons  est  Christus  protegendo, 
Flos  dulcore,  nux  pascendo, 

Ros  coelesti  gratia.  40 


CHRISTMAS.  41 

If  a  crystal  that  is  wetted 

To  the  sun's  rays  be  submitted, 
It  emits  a  little  spark ; 
Neither  doth  the  crystal  break,  20 

Neither  doth  this  child-birth  take 
From  the  maid  her  maiden-mark. 


Such  begetting  of  a  creature 

Strikes  experience  dumb,  and  nature  ; 

Reason  too  fails  utterly ;  25 

Words  could  ne'er  be  found  to  show 

Birth  so  loving,  birth  so  low, 

As  at  Christ's  nativity. 

Leaf,  flower,  nut,  a  dry  rod  beareth, 

And  a  maiden  pure  prepareth  30 

To  produce  God's  Son  Most  High. 
From  a  fleece  heaven's  dew-shower  springeth  ; 
She,  He  made,  her  Maker  bringeth 

Forth,  what  He  had  made  to  buy. 

A 

In  the  flower,  leaf,  nut,  and  shower  35 

Mystic  emblems  of  the  power 

Of  the  Saviour's  love  are  met. 
Leaf  Christ  is — by  shelter  spreading; 
Flower — by  sweetness  ;  nut — by  feeding ; 

Dew — by  grace  with  heaven's  dew  wet.     40 


NATIVITAS  DOMINI. 

Cur,  quod  virgo  peperit, 
Est  Judaeis  scandalum, 

Cum  virga  produxerit 

Sicca  sic  amygdalum  ? 


Contemplemur  adhuc  nucem ;  45 

Nam  prolata  nux  in  lucem 

Lucis  est  mysterium. 
Trinam  gerens  unionem, 
Tria  confert :  unctionem, 

Lumen  et  edulium.  50 


Nux  est  Christus,  cortex  nucis 
Circa  carnem  pcena  crucis, 

Testa  corpus  osseum. 

Carne  tecta  Deitas 

Et  Christi  suavitas  55 

Signatur  per  nucleum. 


Lux  est  caecis,  et  unguentum 
Christus  segris,  et  fomentum 

Piis  animalibus. 

O  quam  dulce  sacramentum  !  60 

Fcenum  carnis  in  frumentum 

Convertit  fidelibus. 


CHRISTMAS.  43 

Why  should  it  offend  the  Jews, 

That  a  virgin  bore  a  son, 
When  a  rod  could  thus  produce 

Almonds,  though  a  sapless  one  ? 


On  the  nut  still  let  us  ponder ;  45 

For,  if  a  full  light  brought  under, 

Tis  the  mystic  type  of  light. 
As  it  three  in  one  appeareth, 
So  three  gifts  too  it  conferreth ; 

Unction,  food,  effulgence  bright.  50 


Christ  the  nut, — its  hull  His  passion, 
Closing  round  His  human  fashion, — 

And  His  bony  frame  its  shell, — 

The  incarnate  Deity 

And  Christ's  tender  sympathy  55 

In  the  kernel  mark  ye  well. 


Christ  is  light  to  those  not  seeing, 
Balm,  the  sick  from  sickness  freeing, 

And  His  loving  creatures'  food. 
O  how  sweet  a  rite  !    He  taketh  60 

Grass — our  flesh — and  thereof  maketh 

Grain  for  those  who  trust  in  God. 


NATI  VITAS  DOMINI. 

Quos  sub  umbra  sacramenti, 
Jesu,  pascis  in  prsesenti, 

Tuo  vultu  satia.  65 

Splendor  Patri  coaeterne, 
Nos  hinc  transfer  ad  paternse 

Claritatis  gaudia.     Amen. 


CHRISTMAS.  45 

Those,  whose  food  Thou  now  providest, 
Jesu  !  as  'neath  rites  Thou  hidest, 

With  Thy  presence  satiate  !  65 

Thou,  the  Father's  Co-eternal 
Brightness  !  us  to  joys  supernal 

In  His  glory  hence  translate !    Amen, 


46  DIES  CIRCUMCISIONIS. 

VIII. 
DIES  CIRCUMCISIONIS. 


H 


AC  die  festa  concinat  multimoda  camcena, 
Collaudans  cceli  Dominum  cum  dulci 
cantilena. 


Per  hsec  enim  solempnia  sunt  cuncta  renovata, 
Humano  quoque  generi  est  venia  donata. 


Invenit  drachma  mulier  ;  accenditur  lucerna,        5 
In  carne  dum  comparuit  mens  Deo  coseterna. 


Dum  cadit  secus  Jericho  vir  Hierosolomita, 
Samaritanus  affuit  quo  lapso  datur  vita. 


Perduxit  hunc  in  stabulum  dementia  divina, 
Vinum  permiscens  oleo  suavi  medicina.  10 


\ 

THE   CIRCUMCISION  OF  CHRIST.          47 
VIII. 

THE  CIRCUMCISION  OF  CHRIST. 

THIS  festal  day  our  Muse  should  be  a  varied 
song  upraising, 

In  strains  of  sweetest  melody  the  Lord  of  heaven 
praising. 

For  all  things  by  this  festival  have  been  renewed 

from  heaven, 
And  pardon  to  the  human  race  for  all  their  misdeeds 

given. 

The  woman  finds  her  silver  piece ;  her  candle  she 
hath  lighted,  5 

What  time  to  flesh  the  mind,  with  God  co-equal,  is 
united. 

When  from  Jerusalem  the  man  nigh  Jericho  is  lying, 
The  good  Samaritan  comes  by  and  rescues  him 
from  dying. 

By  clemency  divine  he  is  into  the  inn  attended, 
Whilst  wine  and  oil,  as  remedy  to  soothe  his  pain, 
are  blended.  10 


48  DIES  CIRCUMCISIONIS. 

Curantis  segri  vulnera  sunt  dulcia  fomenta, 
Dum  cunctis  pcenitentia  fuit  reis  inventa. 


Bini  dati  denarii  sunt  duo  Testamenta 

Dum  Christus,  finis  utriusque,  complet  sacramenta. 


En  tellus  rore  germinat  nee  patet  madefacta,        15 
Dum  virgo  Deum  parturit,  et  mater  est  intacta. 


In  tenebris  exortus  est  Puer,  lux  sempiterna ; 
Octava  circumcisus  est  hac  die  hodierna. 


Hsec  ab  antiquis  patribus  dies  fuit  praevisa 
Dum  se  prolemque  Domino  dant  came  cir-     20 
cumcisa. 


Hac  die  circumcisio  fiebat  sub  figura 
Octava,  qua  salvabitur  humana  creatura. 


THE  CIRCUMCISION  OF  CHRIST.          49 

Sweet  are  the  balms  of  Him,  who  gives  to  sick  men's 
wounds  their  healing, 

The  way  of  penitence  for  all  their  sinfulness  re- 
vealing. 

Of  the  two  Testaments  the  gift  of  the  two  pennies 

telleth, 
Since  Jesus  Christ,  the  end  of  both,  their  mysteries 

fulfilleth. 

Lo  !  now  the  earth  buds  forth  with  dew  and  yet 

abideth  rainless,  15 

Whilst  bears  a  maid  our  God  Himself,  and  is  a 
mother  stainless. 

In  darkness  was  the  Infant  born,  Who  light  eternal 

giveth ; 
And  circumcision  on  this  day,  the  eighth  day,  He 

receiveth. 

This  day  the  Patriarchs  of  old  foresaw  in  clear  pre- 
vision, 

Who  gave  themselves  and  progeny  to  God  by  cir- 
cumcision. 20 

That  circumcision  was  performed  this  eighth  day  in 

a  figure, 
Which  shall  a  human  creature  save  from  God's  most 

righteous  rigour. 

E 


So  DIES  CIRCUMCISION1S. 

Ergo  nos  circumcidamus,  non  carnis  preputia, 
Sed  a  nobis  abscidamus  sordes  et  vitia. 


Ut  mundati  mente,  carne,  capiamus  praemia,        25 
Quse  octava  confert  aetas  merenti  coelestia. 


Eya,  die  ista, 
Omnis  organ  ista 
Cantor  et  psalmista 

Intonet,  30 

Consonet 
Cum  cytharista.     Amen. 


THE   CIRCUMCISION  OF  CHRIST.  51 

Ourselves,  and  not  our  foreskins,  then  let  us  be  cir- 
cumcising, 

And  cut  away  the  lust  and  sin  for  aye  within  us 
rising. 

That,  cleansed  in  heart  and  flesh,  to  us  those  prizes 
may  be  given,  25 

Which  the  eighth  age  confers  on  him  deserving  joy 
in  heaven. 

Come  ye  then  to-day  here, 
Every  organ-player, 
Singer  and  psalm-sayer  ! 

Lift  your  praise,  30 

And  upraise, 
Minstrel !  your  lay  here !    Amen. 


PASCHA. 
IX. 

PASCHA. 

ECCE  dies  Celebris ! 
Lux  succedit  tenebris, 
Morti  resurrectio. 
Laetis  cedant  tristia, 
Cum  sit  major  gloria  5 

Quam  prima  confusio ; 
Umbram  fugat  veritas, 
Vetustatem  novitas, 
Luctum  consolatio. 

Pascha  novum  colite;  10 

Quod  prseit  in  capite, 

Membra  sperent  singula. 
Pascba  novum  Christus  est, 
Qui  pro  nobis  passus  est, 

Agnus  sine  macula.  15 

Hosti  qui  nos  circuit 
Praedam  Christus  eruit : 
Quod  Samson  praecinuit, 
Dum  leonem  lacerat. 


EASTER.  53 


IX. 


EASTER. 

HAIL,  great  day  of  wondrous  deeds ! 
Light  to  deepest  gloom  succeeds, 
And  to  death  new  risen  life. 
Joy  all  sorrow  triumphs  o'er, 
For  the  glory  now  is  more  5 

Than  the  former  mingled  strife ; 
Truth  the  shadow  puts  to  flight, 
What  is  new  the  old  and  trite, 
Consolation  tears  and  grief. 

Hail  to  our  new  Passover ;  10 

What  the  Head  did  first  secure 

May  each  member  hope  to  gain. 
Our  new  Passover  is  Christ, 
Who  for  us  was  sacrificed, 

As  a  Lamb  devoid  of  stain.  15 

From  the  foe  about  our  way 
Christ  delivers  now  the  prey, 
E'en  as  Samson  once  did  say, 

When  the  lion  he  slew  of  yore. 


54  PASCHA. 


David,  fortis  viribus,  20 

A  leonis  unguibus 
Et  ab  ursi  faucibus 

Gregem  patris  liberal. 

Qui  in  morte  plures  stravit, 

Samson,  Christum  figuravit,  25 

Cujus  mors  victoria. 
Samson  dictus  Sol  eorum : 
Christus  lux  est  electorum, 

Quos  illustrat  gratia. 

Jam  de  Crucis  sacro  vecte  30 

Botrus  fiuit  in  dilectae 

Penetral  ecclesiae. 
Jam,  calcato  torculari, 
Musto  gaudent  ebriari 

Gentium  primitiae.  35 

Saccus  scissus  et  pertusus 
In  regales  transit  usus  : 
Saccus  fit  soccus  gratia;, 
Caro  victrix  miseriae. 

Quia  regem  peremerunt,  40 

Dei  regnum  perdiderunt : 
Sed  non  deletur  penitus 
Cain,  in  signum  positus. 


EASTER.  55 

David,  strong  in  his  good  cause,  20 

Rescues  from  the  lion's  claws 
And  the  bear's  devouring  jaws, 

All  his  father's  flock  once  more. 

Samson  slew  the  most  when  dying, 

Jesus  Christ  thus  typifying,  25 

Death  to  Whom  was  victory. 
Samson's  name  "  Their  Sun  "  declareth  ; 
As  His  saints'  light  Christ  appeareth, 

Whom  He  shines  on  graciously. 

From  the  Cross's  holy  transom  30 

Flows  the  grapes'  divinest  ransom 

To  the  well-loved  Church's  shrine : 
Round  the  trodden  wine-press  thronging, 
Gentile  first-fruits  drink,  with  longing, 

Draughts  of  new  and  gladdening  wine.  35 

Sackcloth,  worn  to  rags  and  riven, 

Is  to  royal  uses  given  : 

With  sackcloth  shod,  see  !  peace  doth  go ; 

The  flesh  hath  triumphed  over  woe. 

They  are  from  God's  kingdom  driven,  40 

Who  to  death  its  king  have  given  : 
Cain  hath  not  wholly  perished  yet, 
But  for  a  warning  sign  is  set. 


56  PASCHA. 


Reprobatus  et  abjectus 

Lapis  iste,  nunc  electus,  45 

In  tropaeum  stat  erectus, 

Et  in  caput  anguli. 
Culpam  delens,  non  naturam, 
Novam  creat  creaturam, 
Tenens  in  se  ligaturam  50 

Utriusque  populi. 

Capiti  sit  gloria, 
Membrisque  concordia !    Amen. 


EASTER.  57 

Though  condemned  once  and  rejected 

Was  this  stone,  it  stands  erected  45 

For  a  trophy  now,  selected 

As  the  chiefest  corner-stone. 
Sin,  not  nature,  He  rebateth, 
A  new  creature  He  createth, 
And  Himself  in corporateth  50 

Jews  and  Gentiles  into  one. 

To  the  Head  all  glory  be, 
'Mongst  the  members  unity  !    Amen. 


58  PASCHA. 


X. 


PASCHA. 

LUX  illuxit  Dominica, 
Lux  insignis,  lux  unica, 
Lux  lucis  et  laetitiae, 
Lux  immortalis  glorise. 

Diem  mundi  conditio  5 

Commendat  ab  initio, 
Quam  Christi  resurrectio 
Ditavit  privilegio. 

In  spe  perennis  gaudii, 
Lucis  exultent  filii ;  i  o 

Vindicent  membra  meritis 
Conformitatem  capitis ! 

Solemnis  est  celebritas 

Et  vota  sunt  solemnia ; 

Prima;  diei  dignitas  15 

Prima  requirit  gaudia. 


EASTER.  59 


X. 


EASTER. 

THE  Lord's  own  day  hath  poured  its  rays, 
That  glorious  light,  the  day  of  days  ; 
The  light  of  light  and  joy,  the  day 
Whose  glory  passeth  not  away. 

This  day  the  world's  foundations  laid  5 

Distinguish,  since  the  world  was  made ; 
On  which  Christ's  rising  from  the  dead 
Hath  new  peculiar  glory  shed. 


Ye  sons  of  light !  with  lifted  voice 
In  hope  of  endless  joys  rejoice  ;  10 

And  by  good  deeds,  ye  members  !  see 
That  like  unto  your  Head  ye  be  ! 

A  holy  feast  this  day  displays, 

And  prayers  as  holy  it  desires ; 

The  glory  of  the  first  of  days  1 5 

The  first-fruits  of  our  joy  requires. 


60  PASCffA. 


Solemnitatum  gloria, 

Paschalis  est  victoria, 

Sub  multis  senigmatibus 

Prius  proraissa  patribus.  20 


Jam  scisso  velo  patuit 
Quod  vetus  lex  prsecinuit ; 
Figuram  res  exterminat, 

Et  umbram  lux  illuminat. 


Quid  agnus  sine  macula,  25 

Quid  haedus  typi  gesserit, 
Nostra  purgans  piacula, 
Messias  nobis  aperit 


Per  mortem  nos  indebitam 

Solvit  a  morte  debita ;  30 

Prsedam  captans  illicitam 

Praeda  privatur  licita. 


Carnis  delet  opprobria 

Caro  peccati  nescia ; 

Die  reflorens  tertia  35 

Corda  confirmat  dubia. 


EASTER.  61 

The  feast  of  Easter's  victory 

The  glory  of  all  feasts  must  be, 

'Neath  many  a  mystic  type  foretold 

In  promise  to  our  sires  of  old.  20 


Now,  rent  the  veil,  is  that  well  known 
In  the  old  law  obscurely  shown ; 
Fulfilment  types  obliterates, 
And  shadows  light  illuminates. 


From  what  the  lamb  without  a  spot,  25 

From  what  the  scapegoat,  typified, 
Purging  from  us  guilt's  sinful  blot, 
Messias  draws  the  veil  aside. 


By  death  deserved  not  doth  He  pay 

From  death  deserved  to  set  us  free ;  30 

Death,  seizing  the  unlawful  prey, 

Loses  what  was  his  lawfully. 


That  flesh,  which  knows  nor  guilt  nor  stain, 
Destroys  our  guilt,  the  flesh's  bane  ; 
And,  springing  the  third  day  again,  35 

Doth  doubting  hearts'  full  faith  maintain. 


62  PASCHA. 


O  mors  Christ!  mirifica, 

Tu  Christo  nos  vivifica  ! 

Mors  morti  non  obnoxia, 

Da  nobis  vitse  prsemia !  40 


EASTER.  63 

O  death  of  Christ,  most  wondrous  death  ! 
Be  thou  in  Christ  our  life  and  breath  ! 
O  death,  that  bows  no  death  beneath  ! 
Grant  thou  to  us  life's  glory-wreath  !  40 


PASCHA. 

XI. 
PASCHA. 

SALVE,  dies  dierum  gloria, 
Dies  felix,  Christi  victoria, 
Dies  digna  jugi  laetitia, 

Dies  prima ! 

Lux  divina  csecis  irradiat,  5 

In  qua  Christus  infernum  spoliat, 
Mortem  vincit  et  reconciliat 
Summis  ima. 

Sempiterni  Regis  sententia 

Sub  peccato  conclusit  omnia,  10 

Ut  infirmis  superna  gratia 

Subveniret. 
Dei  virtus  et  sapientia 
Temperavit  iram  dementia 
Cum  jam  mundus  in  praecipitia  15 

Totus  iret. 

Insultabat  nostrae  miseriae, 
Vetus  hostis,  auctor  malitiae, 
Quia  nulla  spes  erat  veniae 

De  peccatis ;  20 


EASTER.  65 

XL 
EASTER. 

HAIL,  day,  the  glory  of  all  days,  to  thee  ! 
Thrice  happy  day,  Christ's  day  of  victory  ! 
The  first  day  !  day  most  fit  continually 

Our  joy  to  show ! 

This  day  divine  illuminates  blind  eyes,  5 

Upon  which  Christ  of  hell's  dark  realms  makes  prize, 
O'ercometh  death  and  joins  in  one  the  skies 
And  earth  below. 

The  judgment  of  the  everlasting  King 

Hath  under  sin  concluded  everything,  10 

That  heavenly  grace  the  weak  and  wavering 

Might  come  to  aid. 

God's  goodness  and  His  wisdom  from  on  high 
His  wrath  hath  tempered  with  His  clemency, 
Now  when  all  earth  was  being  rapidly  15 

In  ruin  laid. 

The  father  of  all  lies,  man's  ancient  foe, 
Was  trampling  on  us  in  our  bitter  woe, 
Because  no  hope  of  pardon  here  below 

For  sin  was  left ;  20 

F 


66  PASCHA. 

Desperante  mundo  remedium, 
Dum  tenerent  cuncta  silentium, 
Deus  Pater  emisit  Filium 
Desperatis. 

Prsedo  vorax,  monstrum  tartareum,  25 

Carnem  videns,  nee  cavens  laqueum, 
In  latentem  ruens  aculeum 

Aduncatur ; 

Dignitatis  primae  conditio 
Reformatur  nobis  in  Filio  30 

Cujus  nova  nos  resurrectio 

Consolatur. 

Resurrexit  liber  ab  inferis 

Restaurator  humani  generis, 

Overa  suam  reportans  humeris  35 

Ad  superna. 

Angelorum  pax  fit  et  hominum ; 
Plenitude  succrescit  ordinum : 
Triumphantem  laus  decet  Dominum, 

Laus  seterna !  40 

Harmonise  ccelestis  patrise 
Vox  concordet  matris  ecclesiae ; 
Alleluia  frequentet  hodie 
Plebs  fidelis. 


EASTER.  67 

When  thus  the  earth  despaired  of  cure  for  sin, 
And  silence  reigned  o'er  it  and  all  therein, 
Forth  God  the  Father  sent  His  Son  to  men 
Of  hope  bereft. 

The  insatiate  robber,  monster  hell  did  bear,         25 
Seeing  the  bait,  but  heedless  of  the  snare, 
Rushing  upon  the  hook's  point  hidden  there, 

On  it  is  caught ; 

The  dignity  of  man,  as  first  begun, 
Is  now  re-fashioned  for  us  in  the  Son,  30 

By  Whose  new  resurrection  to  each  one 

Comfort  is  brought. 

Free  hath  He  risen  from  depths  of  hell  below, 

Who  hath  the  human  race  re-fashioned  so, 

And,  on  His  shoulder  borne,  His  sheep  He  now  35 

To  heaven  doth  raise. 

'Twixt  men  and  angels  is  there  perfect  peace ; 
The  ranks  of  heaven  now  swell  to  full  increase  ; 
Praise  to  the  Lord  Who  maketh  wars  to  cease, 

Eternal  praise  !  40 

O  let  the  voice  of  Mother-Church  agree 
With  heaven,  our  fatherland's,  bright  harmony, 
And  alleluias  from  the  faithful  be 
Countless  to-day ! 


68  PASCHA. 


Triumphato  mortis  imperio,  45 

Triumphal!  fruamur  gaudio : 
In  terra  pax  et  jubilatio 
Sit  in  ccelis  !    Amen. 


EASTER.  69 

The  power  of  death  o'ercome  effectually,      45 
Let  us  enjoy  the  joys  of  victory : 
On  earth  be  peace  and  jubilee  on  high 
In  heaven  for  aye  !    Amen. 


70  PASCHA. 

XII. 

PASCHA. 

SEXTA  passus  feria 
Die  Christus  tertia 
Resurrexit ; 
Surgens  cum  victoria, 
Collocat  in  gloria  5 

Quos  dilexit. 

Pro  fideli  populo 
Crucis  in  patibulo 

Immolatur; 

Clauditur  in  tumulo,  10 

Tandem  in  diluculo 

Suscitatur. 

Christi  crux  et  passio 
Nobis  est  praesidio, 

Si  credamus;  15 

Christi  resurrectio 
Facit  ut  a  vitio 

Resurgamus. 


EASTER.  71 


XII. 
EASTER. 

CHRIST,  upon  the  Friday  slain, 
V_x  On  the  Sunday  once  again 

Rose  victorious, 

And  those,  whom  He  sought  in  love, 
Gathers  round  Himself  above,  5 

Ever  glorious. 

For  His  faithful  people  He, 
Offered  on  the  Cross's  tree, 

Death  sustained! : 

To  the  tomb's  enclosure  borne,  10 

Life  once  more  at  early  morn 

He  regaineth. 

Christ's  protection  we  receive 
Through  His  Cross,  if  we  believe, 

And  His  Passion ;  15 

While  His  rising  for  our  sakes 
Possible  our  rising  makes 

From  transgression. 


72  PASCHA. 


Hostia  sufficiens 

Christus  fuit  moriens  20 

Pro  peccato ; 
Sanguinis  effusio 
Abluit  nos,  impio 

Triumphato. 

Morte  sua  simplici  25 

Nostrse  morti  duplici 

Fert  medelam ; 
Vitae  pandit  aditum, 
Nostrum  sanat  genitum 

Et  querelam.  30 

Leo  fortis  hodie 
Dat  signum  potentiae 

Resurgendo, 
Principem  nequitiae 
Per  arma  justitise  35 

Devincendo. 

Diem  istam  Dominus 
Fecit,  in  qua  facinus 

Mundi  lavit, 

In  qua  mors  occiditur,  40 

In  qua  vita  redditur, 

Hostis  ruit. 


EASTER.  73 

A  sufficient  sacrifice 

Jesus  by  His  death  supplies  20 

For  all  evil : 

Through  His  blood,  shed,  cleansed  are  we, 
And  thus  gain  the  victory 

O'er  the  devil. 

He,  by  dying  once  for  all,  25 

Freedom  from  death's  double  thrall 

For  us  gaining, 
Opens  wide  the  gate  of  life, 
Thereby  healing  all  our  grief 

And  complaining.  30 

He,  the  lion  strong,  to-day 
Rising,  of  his  powerful  sway 

Token  showeth ; 
For  iniquity's  fell  lord, 
He  with  righteousness's  sword  35 

Overthroweth. 

'Tis  the  Lord's  own  day,  wherein 
All  the  world,  made  clean  from  sin, 

He  recalleth, 

Whereon,  death's  self  being  slain,  40 

And  our  life  restored  again, 

Satan  falleth. 


74  PASCHA. 


Geminatum  igitur 
Alleluya  canitur 

Corde  puro,  45 

Quia  culpa  tollitur 
Et  vita  promittitur 

In  future. 

In  hoc  mundi  vespere 

Fac  tuos  resurgere,  50 

Jesu  Christe; 
Salutaris  omnibus 
Sit  tuis  fidelibus 

Dies  iste  !   Amen. 


EASTER.  75 

Therefore  from  pure  hearts  once  more 
Double  alleluias  soar 

Up  to  heaven  ;  45 

Since  away  man's  guilt  is  ta'en, 
And  that  he  shall  live  again 

Promise  given. 

Jesu  Christ !  make  Thou  Thine  own 

Rise  before  the  sun  goes  down  50 

O'er  creation ; 

May  this  day  to  all  who  bear 
True  allegiance  to  Thee  here. 

Bring  salvation  !    Amen. 


PASCHA. 


XIII. 
PASCHA. 

MUNDI  renovatio 
Nova  parit  gaudia; 
Resurgent!  Domino 

Conresurgunt  omnia. 
Elementa  serviunt,  5 

Et  auctoris  sentiunt 
Quanta  sint  sollemnia. 

Ignis  volat  mobilis, 

Et  aer  volubilis, 

Fluit  aqua  labilis,  10 

Terra  manet  stabilis : 

Alta  petunt  levia, 

Centrum  tenent  gravia, 

Renovantur  omnia. 

Coelum  fit  serenius,  15 

Et  mare  tranquillius ; 
Spirat  aura  levius, 
Vallis  nostra  floruit. 


EASTER.  77 


XIII. 
EASTER. 

SPRING'S  renewal  of  earth's  plain 
New-born  joys  to  man  supplies ; 
When  the  Lord  doth  rise  again, 
With  Him  also  all  things  rise  : 
Elements  upon  Him  wait,  5 

Feeling,  as  their  source,  how  great 
Should  be  His  solemnities. 

Fires  their  swift  flames  upward  throw, 

Lightly  the  air-eddies  blow, 

Running  waters  onward  flow,  10 

Earth  remains  unmoved  below  : 

Light  things  soar  above  the  plain, 

Heavy  things  their  place  retain, 

All  things  are  renewed  again. 

Heights  of  heaven  serener  be,  15 

And  more  tranquil  grows  the  sea  ; 
Breathes  the  air  more  buoyantly, 
And  our  vale  fresh  verdure  shows ; 


PASCHA. 

Revirescunt  arida, 
Recalescunt  frigida  20 

Postquam  ver  intepuit. 

Gelu  mortis  solvitur, 
Princeps  mundi  tollitur, 
Et  ejus  destruitur 

In  nobis  imperium  ;  25 

Dum  tenere  voluit 
In  quo  nihil  habuit, 

Jus  amisit  proprium. 

Vita  mortem  superat ; 

Homo  jam  recuperat  30 

Quod  prius  amiserat 

Paradisi  gaudium  : 
Viam  prsebat  facilem, 
Cherubim  versatilem 

Amovendo  gladium.  35 

Christus  coelos  reserat 
Et  captives  liberal 
Quos  culpa  ligaverat 

Sub  mortis  interitu. 
Pro  tanta  victoria  40 

Patri,  Proli  gloria 

Sit  cum  Sancto  Spiritu  !    Amen. 


EASTER.  79 

What  is  dry  once  more  revives, 
What  is  cold  new  heat  receives,  20 

When  with  warmth  the  springtide  glows. 

Icy  death  dissolves  to-day ; 

This  world's  prince  is  borne  away, 

And  o'er  us  his  hateful  sway 

Is  destroyed  for  evermore  :  25 

Since  he  in  possession  sought 
Him  in  whom  he  had  not  aught, 

He  hath  lost  his  ancient  power. 

Death  by  life  is  triumphed  o'er ; 

Man  recovers  now  once  more  30 

All  the  bliss,  which,  lost  of  yore, 

Paradise's  joys  afford  : 
Easy  hath  the  way  there  proved, 
Since  the  cherubim  removed 

Thence  his  ever-turning  sword.  35 

Christ  re-opens  heaven  again, 
Loosing  every  captive's  chain, 
Bound  to  undergo  death's  pain 

For  his  foul  iniquity. 

Glory  for  such  victory  won  40 

To  the  Father  and  the  Son 

With  the  Holy  Spirit  be  !    Amen. 


8o  PASCHA. 


XIV. 
PASCHA. 

ZYMA  vetus  expurgetur 
Ut  sincere  celebretur 
Nova  resurrectio : 
Haec  est  dies  nostrae  spei, 
Hujus  mira  vis  diei  5 

Legis  testimonio. 

Haec  ^Egyptum  spoliavit 
Et  Hebraeos  liberavit 

De  fornace  ferrea : 

His  in  arcto  constitutis  10 

Opus  erat  servitutis 

Lutum,  later,  palea. 

Jam  Divina  laus  virtutis, 
Jam  triumphi,  jam  salutis 

Vox  crumpet  libera !  1 5 

Haec  est  dies  quam  fecit  Dominus, 
Dies  nostri  doloris  terminus, 
Dies  salutifera  ! 


EASTER.  8l 

XIV. 
EASTER. 

PURGE  away  the  former  leaven, 
That  true  thanks  may  now  be  given 
On  the  day  which  saw  Christ  rise  ! 
Hope  to  us  this  great  day  yieldeth  ; 
Mighty  is  the  power  it  wieldeth,  5 

As  the  Law's  word  testifies. 

Egypt's  sons  this  day  were  plundered ; 
Israel's  tribes,  their  fetters  sundered, 

From  the  kilns  were  freed  to-day ; 
Servile  was  the  occupation  10 

Of  this  bound  and  captive  nation, 

Making  bricks  of  straw  and  clay. 

Of  God's  goodness  let  laudation, 
Songs  of  triumph  and  salvation, 

Burst  forth  now  in  accents  clear :  1 5 

This  is  the  day  the  Lord  Himself  hath  made, 
The  day  our  sorrows  all  to  rest  are  laid, 
And  which  brings  salvation  near. 
G 


82  PASCHA. 


Lex  est  umbra  futurorum, 

Christus,  finis  promissorum,  20 

Qui  consummat  omnia : 

Christi  sanguis  igneam 

Hebetavit  romphaeam, 

Amota  custodia. 

Puer  nostri  forma  risus,  25 

Pro  quo  vervex  est  occisus, 

Vitse  signat  gaudium. 
Joseph  exit  de  cisterna  : 
Christus  redit  ad  superna, 

Post  mortis  supplicium.  30 

Hie  dracones  Pharaonis 
Draco  vorat,  a  draconis 

Immunis  malitia : 

Quos  ignitus  vulnerat, 

Hos  serpentis  liberal  35 

JEnei  praesentia. 

Anguem  forat  in  maxilla 
Christi  hamus  et  armilla  : 

In  cavernam  reguli 

Manum  mittit  ablactatus,  40 

Et  sic  fugit  exturbatus 

Vetus  hospes  saeculi. 


EASTER.  83 

Things  to  come  the  Law's  type  veileth ; 

Christ  the  promises  fulfilleth,  20 

Who  doth  all  things  consummate  ; 
Christ's  own  blood,  for  us  outpoured, 
Making  blunt  the  flaming  sword, 
Drives  the  warders  from  the  gate. 

Life's  joy  he,  that  lad,  implieth,  25 

Who  our  laughter  typifieth, 

In  whose  stead  the  ram  was  slain  : 
Joseph  from  the  pit  ascendeth, 
Back  to  heaven  His  way  Christ  wendeth, 
Having  died  His  death  of  pain.  30 

Tis  this  serpent  that  devoureth 
Pharaoh's  serpents,  and  o'erpowereth, 

Scatheless,  the  old  serpent's  spite. 

He  provideth  an  escape, 

In  a  brazen  serpent's  shape,  35 

From  the  fiery  serpent's  bite. 

Christ  the  hook  and  thorn  appeareth, 
Which  the  serpent's  jaw-bone  teareth  : 

On  the  cockatrice's  den 
When  His  hand  this  weaned  child  layeth,    40 
Driven  off,  no  longer  stayeth 

That  old  dweller  amongst  men. 


PASCHA. 

Irrisores  Elisaei, 

Dum  conscendit  domum  Dei, 

Zelum  calvi  sentiunt :  45 

David  arreptitius, 

Hircus  emissarius 

Et  passer  effugiunt 


In  maxilla  mille  sternit, 

Et  de  tribu  sua  spernit  50 

Samson  matrimonium : 
Samson  Gazse  seras  pandit, 
Et  asportans  portas  scandit 

Montis  supercilium. 


Sic  de  Juda  leo  fords,  55 

Fractis  portis  dirae  mortis, 

Die  surgit  tertia ; 
Rugiente  voce  patris 
Ad  supernae  sinum  matris 

Tot  revexit  spolia.  60 


Cetus  Jonam  fugitivum, 
Veri  Jonas  signativum, 
Post  tres  dies  reddit  vivum 
De  ventris  angustia. 


EASTER.  85 

Mocking  children,  insults  throwing 
At  the  seer  to  Beth-el  going, 

Feel  the  bald-head's  righteous  wrath  :      45 
David,  by  feigned  madness  stirred, 
The  scapegoat,  the  "  living  bird," 

From  the  haunts  of  men  flee  forth. 


Samson  with  a  jaw-bone  slayeth 

Thousands,  and  contempt  displayeth  50 

For  a  wife  from  'mongst  his  own : 
Samson  Gaza's  bolts  unfastens, 
And,  its  gates  uplifting,  hastens 

With  them  to  the  mountain's  crown. 


Judah's  lion  by  this  token  55 

Boldly,  death's  dread  portals  broken, 

Rises  the  third  day  once  more  : 
Back  to  Heaven  rich  fruits  of  daring 
To  our  mother's  bosom  bearing, 

When  He  hears  the  Father's  roar.  60 


Jonah,  from  his  duty  flying, 
Three  days  in  her  belly  lying, 
Our  true  Jonah  typifying, 
Doth  the  whale  restore  alive. 


86  PASCHA. 


Botrus  Cypri  reflorescit,  65 

Dilatatur  et  excrescit ; 
Synagogse  flos  marcescit, 
Et  floret  ecclesia. 

Mors  et  vita  conflixere, 

Resurrexit  Christus  vere,  70 

Et  cum  Christo  surrexere 

Multi  testes  gloriae. 
Mane  novum,  mane  laetum 
Vespertinum  tergat  fletum : 
Quia  vita  vicit  letum,  75 

Tempus  est  laetitiae. 

Jesu  victor,  Jesu  vita, 

Jesu  vitae  via  trita, 

Cujus  morte  mors  sopita, 

Ad  Paschalem  nos  invita  80 

Mensam  cum  fiducia. 
Vive  panis,  vivax  unda, 
Vera  vitis  et  fecunda, 
Tu  nos  pasce,  tu  nos  munda, 
Ut  a  morte  nos  secunda  85 

Tua  salvet  gratia.     Amen. 


EASTER.  87 

Clustered  camphire  fresh  life  showeth,  65 

Spreads  abroad  and  larger  groweth  : 
Blight  alone  the  Law's  bud  knoweth, 
And  the  Church  doth  bloom  and  thrive. 


Death  and  life's  long  strife  is  ended  ! 

Christ  hath  risen  indeed,  attended  70 

By  a  witness  crowd,  ascended 

With  Him,  who  His  glory  show. 
Morning  new,  morn  gladness  reaping  ! 
Wipe  away  our  eve  of  weeping ; 
Life  o'er  death  is  triumph  keeping,  75 

Tis  the  time  for  joyance  now ! 

Jesu  Victor,  life  bestowing  ! 

Jesu,  Way  to  true  life  going  ! 

Through  Thy  death  death's  self  o'erthrowing  ! 

At  Thy  Paschal  feast  o'erflowing  So 

Grant  us  in  full  trust  a  place  ! 
Bread  of  life  and  Water  living ! 
Vine,  the  true  Vine,  much  fruit  giving  ! 
Feed  us,  cleanse  us  from  sin's  striving, 
That,  at  second  death  arriving,  85 

We  escape  it  through  Thy  grace  !    Amen. 


ASCENSIO. 

xv. 
ASCENSIO. 

POSTQUAM  hostem  et  infema 
Spoliavit,  ad  superna 
Christus  redit  gaudia ; 
Angelorum  ascendent! 
Sicut  olim  descendenti  5 

Parantur  obsequia. 

Super  astra  sublimatur ; 
Non  apparet,  absentatur 

Corporis  prsesentia ; 

Cuncta  tarn  en  moderatur,  10 

Cujus  Patri  cosequatur 

Honor  et  potentia. 

Modo  victor,  modo  tutus, 
Est  in  coelo  constitutus 

Rector  super  omnia.  15 

Non  est  rursum  moriturus, 
Nee  per  mortem  mandaturus 

Hominum  contagia. 


ASCENSION.  89 


XV. 


ASCENSION. 

SATAN  and  the  realms  infernal 
Having  spoiled,  to  joys  supernal 
Christ  returneth  back  once  more  : 
As  His  upward  way  He  wendeth, 
As  before,  when  He  descendeth,  5 

Angels  set  them  to  adore. 

As  above  the  stars  He  goeth, 
Here  no  more  Himself  He  showeth, 

Bodily,  to  mortal  sight ; 
But  all  rule  to  Him  is  given,  10 

Who  is  with  His  Sire  in  Heaven 

One  in  majesty  and  might. 

Victor  now,  from  perils  warded, 
He  in  heaven  hath  been  accorded 

Empire  over  all  therein  :  15 

Nevermore  shall  He  be  dying, 
Nevermore  through  death  supplying 

Means  to  purify  man's  sin. 


9b  ASCENSIO. 

Semel  enim  incarnatus, 

Semel  passus,  semel  datus  20 

Pro  peccatis  hostia, 
Nullam  feret  ultra  pcenam, 
Nam  quietem  habet  plenam 

Cum  summa  laetitia. 

Cum  recessit,  ita  dixit,  25 

Intimavit  et  infixit 

Talia  discipulis : 
"  Ite,  mundum  circuite, 
Universes  erudite 

Verbis  et  miraculis.  30 

"  Nam  ad  Patrem  meum  ibo  ; 
Sed  sciatis  quod  redibo  : 

Veniet  Paraclitus 
Qui  desertos  et  loquaces, 
Et  securos,  et  audaces  35 

Faciet  vos  penitus. 

"  Super  jegros  et  languentes 
Manus  vestras  imponentes, 

Sanitatem  dabitis ; 

Universas  res  nocentes,  40 

Inimicos  et  serpentes 

Et  morbos  fugabitis. 


ASCENSION".  91 

Once  for  all  He  took  our  nature, 

Once  He  suffered,  once,  a  creature,  20 

Was  for  sin  content  to  die  : 
Further  pain  shall  He  know  never, 
But,  in  perfect  peace  for  ever, 

Compass  endless  joys  on  high. 

Thus  He  spake,  as  He  ascended;  25 

These  things  straitly  He  commanded, 

And  impressed  upon  His  own  : 
"  Go  through  all  the  world  and  preach  ye, 
Every  nation  therein  teach  ye 

Both  by  word  and  wonder  done.  30 

"  For  I  go  unto  My  Father, 
To  return,  as  ye  may  gather, 

Since  shall  come  a  Comforter, 
Who  shall  make  you  bold  and  fearless, 
Of  all  consequences  careless,  35 

Eloquent  in  speech  and  clear. 

"  Those  laid  low  by  sickness  on  them, 
When  ye  lay  your  hands  upon  them, 

Shall  their  former  health  regain : 
All  things  hurtful  and  annoying,  40 

With  all  deadly  snakes,  destroying, 

Ye  shall  drive  out  plagues  and  pain. 


93  ASCEAWO. 


"  Qui  fidelis  est  futurus 
Et  cum  fide  suscepturus 

Baptism!  remedium,  45 

In  peccatis  erit  purus 
Et  cum  justis  habiturus 

Sempiternum  gaudium."    Amen. 


ASCENSION.  93 

"  Whosoever  but  believeth, 
And  with  simple  faith  receiveth 

Baptism's  sure  remedy,  45 

Shall  be  cleansed  from  all  transgression, 
And  have  with  the  saints  possession 

Of  eternal  joys  on  high  ! "    Amen. 


94  PENTECOSTE. 

XVI. 
PENTECOSTE. 

LUX  jucunda,  lux  insignis, 
Qua  de  throno  missus  ignis 
In  Christi  discipulos 
Corda  replet,  linguas  ditat, 
Ad  Concordes  nos  invitat  5 

Linguae  cordis  modules. 

Christus  misit  quod  promisit 
Pignus  sponsae,  quam  revisit 

Die  quinquagesima ; 
Post  dulcorem  melleum  10 

Petra  fudit  oleum, 
Petra  jam  firmissima. 

In  tabellis  saxeis, 
Non  in  linguis  igneis 

Lex  de  monte  populo ;  15 

Paucis  cordis  novitas 
Et  linguarum  unitas 

Datur  in  ccenaculo. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  95 

XVI. 

WHITSUNTIDE. 

DAY  delightful !  day  most  noted  ! 
When  o'er  Christ's  disciples  floated 
Fire  sent  from  the  throne  on  high, 
Filling  hearts  and  tongues  endowing, 
And  on  hearts  and  tongues  bestowing  5 

Words  and  thoughts  in  harmony  ! 

Christ,  as  once  His  word  had  spoken, 
Sent  His  spouse  a  pledge  and  token, 

Coming  back  the  fiftieth  day. 
v  After  streams  of  honey  sweet  10 

Oil  that  rock  poured  forth  from  it, 

Which  is  now  man's  firmest  stay. 

From  the  mount  to  Jewry  came 
God's  law,  not  in  tongues  of  flame, 

But  on  tables  wrought  from  stone  :  15 

In  a  furnished  upper  room, 
Given  but  to  few,  there  come 

Hearts  renewed,  and  tongues  as  one. 


PENTECOSTE. 

O  quam  felix,  quam  festiva 

Dies,  in  qua  primitiva  20 

Fundatur  ecclesia ! 
Vivae  sunt  prioritise 
Nascentis  ecclesiae, 
Tria  primum  millia. 

Panes  legis  primitivi  25 

Sub  una  sunt  adoptivi 

Fide  duo  populi : 
Se  duobus  inter)  ecit 
Sicque  duos  unum  fecit 

Lapis,  caput  anguli.  30 

Utres  novi,  non  vetusti, 
Sunt  capaces  novi  musti  ; 

Vasa  parat  vidua ; 
Liquorem  dat  Eliseus; 
Nobis  sacrum  rorem  Deus,  35 

Si  corda  sunt  congrua. 

Non  hoc  musto  vel  liquore, 
Non  hoc  sumus  digni  rore, 

Si  discordes  moribus. 
In  obscuris  vel  divisis  40 

Non  potest  hsec  Paraclisis 

Habitare  cordibus. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  97 

O  the  joy  and  jubilation 

Of  that  day,  when  first  foundation  20 

Of  the  early  Church  was  laid : 

When  the  Church,  then  first  begun, 

Souls  three  thousand  to  it  won, 

Lively  first-fruits  of  it  made. 

Thus  one  faith  binds  earth's  two  nations,      25 
Like  the  early  dispensation's 

Twofold  offering  of  bread : 
The  Head  Corner-stone  two  races 
By  His  presence  interlaces, 

And  thus  one  the  two  are  made.  30 

In  new  bottles,  not  in  olden, 

Must  the  new-made  wine  be  holden : 

Brings  the  widow  but  the  cruse ; 
Oil  is  by  Elijah  given : 
So  doth  God  for  dew  from  heaven  35 

Hearts,  if  fitting  vessels,  use. 

Of  this  wine  or  oil  before  Thee, 
Of  this  dew,  are  we  unworthy, 

If  we  have  not  peace  within  : 
Not  in  hearts  'gainst  God  rebelling,  40 

Can  this  Comforter  be  dwelling, 

Nor  in  those  made  dark  through  sin. 
u 


98  PENTECOSTE. 

Consolator  alme,  veni ; 

Linguas  rege,  corda  leni ; 

Nihil  fellis  aut  veneni  45 

Sub  tua  praesentia. 
Nil  jocundum,  nil  amoenum. 
Nil  salubre,  nil  serenum, 
Nihil  dulce,  nihil  plenum, 

Nisi  tua  gratia.  50 

Tu  lumen  es  et  unguentum, 
Tu  cceleste  condimentum 
Aquas  ditans  elementum 

Virtute  mysteriL 

Nova  facti  creatura,  55 

Te  laudamus  mente  pura, 
Gratiae  nunc,  sed  natura 

Prius  irae  filii. 

Tu  qui  dator  es  et  donum, 
Tu  qui  condis  omne  bonum,  60 

Cor  ad  laudem  redde  pronum, 
Nostrae  linguae  formans  sonum 

In  tua  praeconia. 
Tu  nos  purga  a  peccatis, 
Auctor  ipse  puritatis,  65 

Et  in  Christo  renovatis 
Da  perfectae  novitatis 

Plena  nobis  gaudia.     Amen. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  99 

Come,  Thou  Comforter  benignest ! 

Rule  our  hearts  and  tongues,  Divinest  ! 

Gall  or  poison,  where  Thou  shinest,  45 

May  not  any  more  be  found  : 
There  is  not  a  joy  or  pleasure, 
Health  and  rest  are  not  a  treasure, 
Nought  is  sweet,  all  scant  in  measure, 

Where  Thy  grace  doth  not  abound.  50 

Thou,  for  light  and  unction  given, 
A  sweet  savour  sent  from  heaven, 
Fillest  simple  water  even 

With  a  new  mysterious  power : 
We,  re-made  by  Thy  creation,  55 

Give  Thee,  with  pure  hearts,  laudation  ; 
Sons  of  grace,  by  generation 

Sons  of  wrath  who  were  before. 

Thou,  Who  art  both  gift  and  giver, 
Helping  every  good  endeavour,  60 

Cause  our  hearts  to  praise  Thee  ever, 
And  our  lips,  O  let  us  never 

But  in  blessing  Thee  employ : 
Wash  out  every  evil  passion, 
Who  alone  canst  purge  transgression  !          65 
And  in  Christ  our  souls  refashion, 
That  we  may,  in  full  possession, 

Our  new  nature's  bliss  enjoy  !    Amen. 


ioo  PENTECOSTE. 


XVII. 
PENTECOSTE. 

QUI  procedis  ab  utroque, 
Genitore  Genitoque 
Pariter,  Paraclite, 
Redde  linguas  eloquentes, 
Fac  ferventes 
In  te  mentes 
Flamma  tua  divite. 


Amor  Patris  Filiique, 
Par  amborum  et  utrique 

Compar  et  consimilis.  10 

Cuncta  reples,  cuncta  foves, 
Astra  regis,  ccelum  moves, 

Permanens  immobilis. 


Lumen  carum, 

Lumen  clarum,  15 

Internarum 

Tenebrarum 


WHITSUNTIDE.  101 


XVII. 
WHITSUNTIDE. 

COMFORTER,  from  both  together, 
From  the  Son  and  from  the  Father, 
Who  proceedest  equally ! 
Eloquent  our  utterance  render ; 

With  Thy  splendour  5 

Bright  engender 
In  our  hearts  true  warmth  for  Thee. 


Love  of  Father,  Son,  together ; 
Equal  of  them  both ;  with  either 

One :  the  same  in  every  part ! 
All  Thou  fillest,  all  Thou  lovest, 
Stars  Thou  rulest,  heaven  Thou  movest, 

Though  immovable  Thou  art. 


Light  the  dearest ! 

Light  the  clearest !  15 

Off  Thou  scarest, 

As  Thou  nearest, 


102  PENTECOSTE. 

Effugas  caliginem ; 
Per  te  mundi  sunt  mundati ; 
Tu  peccatum  et  peccati  20 

Destruis  rubiginem. 

Veritatem  notam  facis 
Et  ostendis  viam  pacis 
Et  iter  justitiae. 

Perversorum  25 

Corda  vitas, 
Et  bonorum 

Corda  ditas 
Munere  scientiae. 


Te  docente  30 

Nil  obscurum, 
Te  praesente 

Nil  impurum  ; 
Sub  tua  praesentia 

Gloriatur  mens  jocunda ;  35 

Per  te  laeta,  per  te  munda 
Gaudet  conscientia. 


Tu  commutas  elementa ; 
Per  te  suam  sacramenta 

Habent  efficaciam :  40 


WHITSUNTIDE.  103 

From  the  heart  its  gloomy  night : 
All  the  pure  Thou  purifiest, 
Thou  it  is  that  sin  destroyest,  20 

And  its  mildew's  baleful  blight 


Knowledge  of  the  truth  Thou  spreadest ; 
On  the  way  of  peace  Thou  leadest, 
And  the  path  of  righteousness. 

From  Thee  thrusting  25 

Hearts  unruly, 
Thou  all  trusting 

Hearts  and  holy 
Dost  with  gifts  of  wisdom  bless. 

When  Thou  teachest,  30 

Nought  obscure  is ! 
Where  Thou  readiest, 
Nought  impure  is ; 
And,  if  present  Thou  wilt  be, 
Hearts  in  Thee  then  blithely  glory,  35 

And  the  conscience  joys  before  Thee, 
Gladdened,  purified,  by  Thee. 

Elements  their  mystic  dower, 
Sacraments  their  saving  power, 

But  through  Thee  alone  possess  :  40 


104  PENTECOSTE. 

Tu  nocivam  vim  repellis, 
Tu  confutas  et  refellis 
Hostium  nequitiam. 

Quando  venis, 

Corda  lenis ;  45 

Quando  subis 

Atrae  nubis 
Effugit  obscuritas ; 

Sacer  ignis, 

Pectus  ignis ;  50 

Non  comburis, 

Sed  a  curis 
Purgas,  quando  visitas. 

Mentes  prius  imperitas 

Et  sopitas  55 

Et  oblitas 
Erudis  et  excitas. 
Foves  linguas,  formas  sonum ; 
Cor  ad  bonum 

Facit  pronum  60 

A  te  data  charitas. 

O  juvamen 

Oppressorum, 
O  solamen 

Miserorum,  65 


WHITSUNTIDE.  105 

What  can  harm  us  Thou  repellest, 
Thou  exposest  and  Thou  quellest, 
Adversaries'  wickedness. 

Where  Thou  lightest, 

Hearts  are  brightest ;  45 

Gloom-enshrouded 

Clouds  that  brooded 
There,  before  Thee  disappear ; 

Fire  all-holy ! 

Hearts  Thou  truly  50 

Never  burnest, 

But  thence  yearnest, 
When  Thou  comest,  cares  to  clear. 

Thou  the  heart,  experience  needing, 

Languor  pleading,  55 

Little  heeding, 

Dost  instruct  and  rouse  to  right ; 
Speeches  framing,  tongues  endowing, 
And  bestowing 

Love  all-glowing,  60 

Hearts  Thou  mak'st  in  good  delight. 

Sustentation 

In  dejection ! 
Consolation 

In  affliction !  65 


io6  PENTECOSTE. 

Pauperum  refugium, 
Da  contemptum  terrenorum, 
Ad  amorem  supernorum 

Trahe  desiderium  ! 


Consolator  70 

Et  fundator, 

Habitator 

Et  amator 
Cordium  humilium, 
Pelle  mala,  terge  sordes,  75 

Et  discordes 

Fac  Concordes, 
Et  affer  praesidium. 

Tu  qui  quondam  visitasti, 

Docuisti,  confortasti  80 

Timentes  discipulos, 
Visitare  nos  digneris ; 
Nos,  si  placet,  consoleris 

Et  credentes  populos. 

Par  majestas  85 

Personarum, 
Par  potestas 

Est  earum, 


WHITSUNTIDE.  107 

Only  refuge  of  the  poor ! 
Give  us  scorn  for  things  terrestrial, 
And  to  care  for  things  celestial 

Lead  our  longings  more  and  more  ! 


Comfort  wholly,  70 

Founder  solely, 

Inmate  truly, 

Lover  throughly, 

Of  those  hearts  that  bow  to  Thee  ! 
Concord,  where  is  discord,  raising,  75 

Ills  thence  chasing, 

Guilt  effacing, 
Bring  us  true  security  ! 


Thou,  Who  once  by  visitation 

Didst  inform,  and  consolation  80 

To  Thy  scared  disciples  give  ! 
Deign  Thou  now  to  come  unto  us  : 
If  it  please  Thee,  comfort  show  us, 

And  all  nations  that  believe ! 

One  excelling  85 

Greatness  sharing, 
One  as  well  in 

Power  appearing, 


io8  PENTECOSTE. 

Et  communis  Deltas : 
Tu,  procedens  a  duobus,  90 

Coasqualis  es  ambobus ; 

In  nullo  disparitas. 

Quia  tantus  es  et  talis 
Quantus  Pater  est  et  qualis ; 

Servorum  humilitas  95 

Deo  Patri,  Filioque 
Redemptori,  Tibi  quoque 

Laudes  reddat  debitas.    Amen. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  109 

But  one  God  three  Persons  are. 
Coming  forth  from  two  together,  90 

Thou  co-equal  art  with  either, 

No  disparity  is  there. 

Such  as  is  the  Father  Thou  art ; 
Since  so  great  and  such  Thou  now  art, 

By  Thy  servants  unto  Thee,  95 

With  the  Sire,  and  Son,  in  heaven 
Our  Redeemer,  praise  be  given, 

As  is  due,  most  reverently  !    Amen. 


PENTECQSTE. 


XVIII. 

PENTECOSTE. 

SIMPLEX  in  essentia, 
Septiformis  gratia, 
Nos  illustret  Spiritus ; 
Cordis  lustret  tenebras 
Et  carnis  illecebras  5 

Lux  emissa  ccelitus  ! 

Lex  praecessit  in  figura, 
Lex  poenalis,  lex  obscura, 

Lumen  evangelicum. 
Spiritalis  intellectus,  10 

Litterali  fronde  tectus, 

Prodeat  in  publicum  ! 

Lex  de  monte  populo, 
Paucis  in  ccenaculo 

Nova  datur  gratia.  1 5 

Situs  docet  nos  locorum, 
Prseceptorum  vel  donorum 

Quae  sit  eminentia. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  in 


XVIII. 

WHITSUNTIDE. 

MAY  the  Spirit  on  us  shine, 
One  in  essence  all-divine, 
Septiform  in  gifts  of  grace ! 
May  His  beams  from  Heaven's  height 
Flood  the  darkened  heart  with  light  5 

And  our  lusts'  ensnaring  ways  ! 

First  the  penal  Law  came,  clouded 
O'er  with  types,  in  mystery  shrouded, 

Ere  the  Gospel  light  shone  forth. 
'Neath  the  foliage  of  the  letter  10 

May  the  spirit,  free  from  fetter, 

Of  that  Gospel  spread  o'er  earth  ! 

From  the  Mount  the  Law  was  given 
Unto  all ;  new  grace  from  Heaven 

In  a  chamber  to  a  few ;  1 5 

The  position  of  which  places 
Brings  out  the  respective  graces 

Of  their  laws  and  gifts  to  view. 


112  PENTECOSTE. 

Ignis,  clangor  buccinae, 

Fragor  cum  caligine,  20 

Lampadum  discursio, 
Terrorem  incutiunt 
Nee  amorem  nutriunt, 

Quern  efFudit  unctio. 

Sic  in  Sina  25 

Lex  divina 
Reis  est  imposita ; 

Lex  timoris, 

Non  amoris, 
Puniens  illicita.  30 

Ecce  patres  prseelecti 
Dii  recentes  sunt  effecti : 

Culpse  solvunt  vincula. 
Pluunt  verbo,  tenant  minis ; 
Novis  linguis  et  doctrinis  35 

Consonant  miracula. 

Exhibentes  aegris  curam, 
Morbum  damnant,  non  naturam. 

Persequentes  scelera, 
Reos  premunt  et  castigant :  40 

Modo  solvunt,  modo  ligant, 

Potestate  libera. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  \  1 3 

Flames  of  fire,  the  trump's  loud  sound, 

Din  and  darkness  all  around,  20 

Bickering  lightnings  sent  abroad, 
Strike  wild  terror  to  the  heart, 
Nor  the  fostering  love  impart, 

Which  that  unction  hath  outpoured. 

Thus  were  given  25 

Out  of  heaven 
Laws  to  sinners  from  the  Mount ; 

Laws  of  terror, 

Chastening  error, 
Making  love  of  small  account.  30 

By  the  fathers,  pre-elected, 
God-like  works  are  now  effected  ; 

They  unloose  sin's  galling  bond : 
Rain  their  words,  their  threatenings  thunder, 
With  their  words  their  works  of  wonder,       35 

New  and  startling,  correspond. 

Caring  for  each  sickly  creature, 
They  condemn  disease,  not  nature; 

Punishing  iniquity, 

Sinners  they  strike  down  and  chasten  ;         40 
Chains  they  loosen,  chains  they  fasten, 

With  a  power  from  limit  free. 
i 


II4  PENTECOSTE. 


Typum  gerit  Jubilei 
Dies  iste,  si  diei 

Requiris  mysteria,  45 

In  quo,  tribus  millibus 

Ad  fidem  currentibus, 

Pullulat  Ecclesia. 

Jubilaeus  est  vocatus 

Vel  dimittens  vel  tnutatus,  50 

Ad  priores  vocans  status 

Res  distractas  libere. 
Nos  distractos  sub  peccatis, 
Liberet  lex  charitatis 
Et  perfectse  libertatis  55 

Dignos  reddat  munere.     Amen. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  115 

Like  a  Jubilee  appeareth 

The  appearance  this  day  weareth, — 

If  its  mystery  thou  would'st  know ; —        45 
When  three  thousand  souls  make  haste 
'Mongst  believers  to  be  classed, 
And  the  Church  doth  thrive  and  grow. 

"  Jubilee  "  is  a  provision 

Made  for  change  or  for  remission,  50 

Freely  to  their  first  condition 

Calling  those  in  misery. 
May  the  law,  by  love  enacted, 
Freeing  us,  by  sin  distracted, 
Make  us,  to  its  gifts  attracted,  55 

Fit  for  perfect  liberty  !    Amen. 


u6  PENTECOSTE, 

XIX. 

PENTECOSTE. 

QPIRITUS 
w.3   Paraclitus, 
Procedens  divinitus, 
Manet  ante  ssecula ; 
Populis, 
Discipulis 
Ad  salutem  sedulis 
Pacis  dedit  oscula. 


Hodie 

Cum  tertiae  10 

Surgit  hora,  veniae 
Fit  ampla  donatio ; 
Criminum 
Est  hominum 

Per  actorem  luminum  1 5 

Facta  relaxatio. 

Micuit, 
Aperuit, 
Viros  fortes  imbuit 


WHITSUNTIDE.  117 

XIX. 

WHITSUNTIDE. 

THE  Spirit  dear, 
That  Comforter, 
Who,  before  all  ages  were, 

By  procession  came  from  God, 

On  a  race,  5 

That  sought  His  face, 
Striving  for  His  saving  grace, 
Hath  the  kiss  of  peace  bestowed. 

On  this  day, 

When  its  first  ray  10 

The  third  hour  doth  display, 

Comes  full  pardon's  gift  so  bright, 
Which  is  then 
For  all  their  sin 

Freely  offered  to  all  men  15 

By  the  Father  of  all  light. 

Its  bright  sheen 
Was  fully  seen, 
And  inspired  bold  dauntless  men 


Ii8  PENTECOSTE. 


Suavis  refectio;  20 

Irruit 

Et  mituit 
Et  eosdem  docuit 
Suo  magisterio. 

Fragiles,  25 

Indociles 
Et  adhuc  inutiles, 
Sermonum  inopia, 
Utiles, 

Amabiles  30 

Et  amici  probabiles 
Facti  sunt  ex  gratia. 


Tenere, 
Non  temere, 

Dilectis  occurrere  35 

Vult  ita  benignitas ; 
Propere 
Consumere 
Culpas  vult  et  tergere 

Non  exstincta  caritas.  40 


Audio 
Cum  gaudio 


WHITSUNTIDE.  119 

With  a  sweet  refreshment  there ;  20 

Yea,  did  tame 

With  rushing  flame, 
And  instruct  and  teach  the  same 
In  its  learning  rich  and  rare. 


Men,  before  25 

Devoid  of  lore, 

Weak  and  frail,  and  lacking  power 
Through  the  lack  of  eloquence, 
Useful  prove, 

Friends  worthy  love,  30 

And  beloved  where'er  they  move, 
Through  the  grace  it  doth  dispense. 

Feelingly, 
Not  fearfully, 

Thus  would  true  benignity  35 

To  its  well-beloved  come : 
Instantly 
Sin's  infamy 
Never-failing  charity 

Would  wipe  off  us  and  consume.  40 

O  mine  ear 

With  joy  doth  hear, 


120  PENTECOSTE. 


Quod  ejus  auxilio 

Sit  tanta  felicitas 
Cum  tanto  tripudio  ...  45 

Cesset  avaritia, 

Fugetur  iniquitas, 
Cesset  insolentia, 

Cesset  infidelitas ! 

Sit  in  ipsa  veritas;  50 

Mentem  cum  modestia 
Scrutetur  humilitas, 

Gratiam  pro  gratia. 

Reddat  universitas 

Ut  Christi  familia  55 

Quam  commendat  sanctitas 

Sit  semper  innoxia ! 

Sit  in  ipsa  veritas, 

Sit  peccati  nescia, 
Sit  perennis  claritas  60 

In  ccelesti  patria  !    Amen. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  121 

That,  whene'er  His  help  is  near, 

Such  untold  felicity 
We  shall  meet  with  bounding  feet ...          45 

Let  all  avarice  vanish  hence, 

Far  away,  wrong-doing  !  flee  : 
No  more  pride  and  insolence, 

No  more  infidelity ! 

Let  the  truth  still  hold  its  place,  50 

And  let  but  humility 
Search  the  conscience, — grace  for  grace, — 

With  all  meekness  modestly. 

May  the  All  in  All  so  bless 

Christ  the  Lord's  own  family,  55 

That  it,  marked  by  holiness, 

Be  from  ills  for  ever  free  ! 

Let  the  truth  there  hold  its  place, 

Let  it  sin  ne'er  understand : 
Let  its  brightness  never  cease  60 

In  the  heavenly  fatherland  !     Amen. 


122  PENTECOSTE. 


XX. 

PENTECOSTE. 

VENI,  summe  consolator, 
Spes  salutis,  vitse  dator, 
Adsit  tua  gratia ! 
Dulcis  ardor,  ros  divine, 
Bonitatis  germine 
Eadem  substantia. 


Ab  utroque  derivatus 
Et  a  neutro  separatus, 
Ad  utrumque  colligatus 

Sempiterno  foedere ;  10 

Ros  et  vapor  utriusque, 
Donet  Pater  Filiusque 
Quod  effluas  ad  nos  usque 

Largifluo  munere. 


Rorem  audis  et  vaporem,  1 5 

Crede  simul  et  odorem 
Quo  Deus  discernitur. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  123 


XX. 

WHITSUNTIDE. 

,  our  comfort's  chief  reviver  ! 
V '  Hope  of  saving-health,  Life-giver  ! 

May  Thy  grace  here  present  be  ! 
Pleasant  heat,  dew  from  above  ! 

Outgrowth  from  the  God  of  love  ! 

One  with  it  substantially  ! 


Who  from  both  proceedest,  neither 
Canst  be  separate  from  either, 
Linked  with  both  of  them  together 

By  an  everlasting  tie ; 
Dew  and  breath  of  both  in  heaven  ! 
By  both  Sire  and  Son  be  given 
Of  Thy  Spirit  to  us  even 

In  rich  plenty  from  on  high. 


Of  this  dew  and  breath  thou  hearest ;  1 5 

Deem  Him  scent  too,  whereby  clearest 
Is  His  Godhead  to  us  shown. 


124  PENTECOSTE. 

Rorem  istum  quern  emittit 
Qui  plus  gustat,  magis  sitit, 

Nee  ardor  reprimitur.  20 

Plebs  ut  sacra  renascatur, 
Per  hunc  unda  consecratur, 
Cui  super  ferebatur 

In  rerum  exordium, 
Fons,  origo  pietatis,  25 

Fons  emundans  a  peccatis, 
Fons  de  fonte  Deitatis, 

Fons  sacrator  fontium  ! 

De  salice  sine  lignis 

Hsedum  vorat  manans  ignis  30 

Azymaque  pariter; 
Ignis  dispar  elementis, 
In  altari  nostrae  mentis 

Accendaris  jugiter ! 

Umbra  septem  mulierum  35 

Figuraris  ipsum  verum, 
Idem  ipse  forma  rerum, 

Septiformis  Spiritus ! 
Speciebus  designaris, 
Nee  specie  variaris :  40 

Absit  unquam  ut  dicaris 

Speciei  deditus ! 


WHITSUNTIDE.  125 

As  this  dew,  that  from  it  bursteth, 
Tastes  man  more,  the  more  he  thirsteth 

With  a  thirst  that  nought  tones  down.    20 

For  the  world's  regeneration 
It  to  water  consecration 
Gave,  on  which  at  the  creation, 

O'er  its  surface  borne,  it  sate. 
Fountain,  source  of  love's  devotion  !  25 

Fountain,  cleansing  sinful  motion  ! 
Fountain  from  the  Godhead's  ocean, 

That  all  founts  doth  consecrate  ! 

^ 

Fire,  unfed  by  fuel,  flowing 
From  the  rod  with  ardent  glowing  30 

That  devours  both  kid  and  bread ! 
Fire,  unlike  all  fire,  O  may  the 
Altar  of  our  soul,  we  pray  Thee, 

Ever  with  Thy  flame  be  fed  ! 

Darkly  by  the  women  seven  35 

Art  Thou  figured,  Truth  of  Heaven ! 
Inner  life  to  all  things  given  ! 

Spirit,  Sevenfold  in  grace  ! 
Thee  all  various  types  betoken, 
Though  Thy  oneness  be  unbroken ;  40 

Nor  of  Thee  may  it  be  spoken, 

That  a  type  can  Thee  embrace. 


126  PENTECOSTE. 

Ignis  vive,  vivax  unda, 
Munda  sinus  et  fecunda, 

Subministra  gratiam ;  45 

Caritatis  tactos  igne, 
Nosniet  tibi  fac  benigne 

Sanctitatis  hostiam. 

Patris,  Nati  pium  flamen, 

Vitiorum  medicamen,  50 

Fessis  esto  sublevamen, 

Moestis  consolatio. 
Castus  amor  et  honestus, 
^Estus  ardens,  sed  modestus, 
Quos  urit  ardor  incestus  55 

Tua  sanet  unctio. 

Vox  non  sono  designata, 

Vox  subtilis,  vox  privata, 

Vox  beatis  inspirata, 

O  vox  dulcis,  O  vox  grata,  60 

Sona  nostris  mentibus  ! 
Lux  depellens  falsitatem, 
Lux  inducens  veritatem, 
Vitam  atque  sanitatem 
Et  aeternam  claritatem  65 

Nobis  confer  omnibus.    Amen. 


WHITSUNTIDE.  127 

Fire  of  life  and  life's  bright  river  ! 
Cleanse  and  fertilize  hearts  ever, 

Giving  grace  in  everything ;  45 

Touched  with  fire  of  true  love,  take  us 
To  Thee,  and  in  mercy  make  us 

Holiness's  offering ! 

Sire  and  Son's  blest  emanation  ! 

Be  from  sin  our  restoration,  50 

When  worn  out,  our  sustentation, 

And  our  comfort,  when  we  mourn  ! 
Love  both  pure  and  noble  truly  ! 
Heat  that  warms,  but  ne'er  unduly ! 
May  Thine  unction  heal  those  throughly,     55 

Who  with  unchaste  ardour  burn  ! 

Voice,  that  doth  no  sounds  deliver ! 

Still  small  voice,  that  whisperest  ever, 

Saints  inspiring  to  endeavour  ! 

Voice  of  joy  and  sweetness  !  never  60 

Cease  to  sound  within  our  heart ! 
Light,  away  all  falsehood  driving ! 
Light,  to  truth  incentive  giving  ! 
Grant  that — life,  health,  thence  deriving, — 
Of  Thy  brightness  ever-living  65 

All  of  us  may  have  our  part !     Amen. 


128  TRINITAS. 


XXI. 

TRINITAS. 

TRINITATEM  simplicem, 
Trinum  Deum,  non  triplicem, 
Supplex  colat  ecclesia ! 
Trinitatis 

In  creatis  5 

Interlucent  rebus  vestigia. 

Mens  in  Deum  consurgat  sobria  ! 

Genitoris  et  Geniti 

Spiritusque  Paracliti 

Gratia  10 

Nobis  sacra  revelet  mysteria. 

Tres  personae  sunt,  et  plura 
Quse  personas  distingunt  mysteria. 

Tres  idem  sunt  in  natura, 
Quod  una  nee  tribus  minor  singula.          1 5 

Trium  posse,  scire,  velle  paria, 
In  personis  tribus  et  distantia. 

— Sit  par  reverentia 

Tribus,  et  uni  gloria  !    Amen. 


TRINITY.  129 

XXI. 

TRINITY. 

TO  the  Trine  God,  not  Gods  three, 
The  Trinity  in  Unity, 
Let  the  Church  now  bow  the  knee ! 
All  creation 

Indication,  5 

Clear  and  lucid,  gives  of  a  Trinity. 

Let  the  sober  mind  up  to  God  then  rise ! 

Of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son, 

With  the  Paraclete  Spirit  one, 

To  our  eyes  10 

May  God's  grace  reveal  all  the  mysteries ! 

There  are  Persons  three,  and  many 
Mysteries  marking  these  Persons  distinctively  : 

One  by  nature,  all  and  any, 
Neither  is  separately  less  than  all  the  three.         15 

Equal  in  all  Three  is  knowledge,  power,  and  will, 
Yet  in  their  three  Persons  is  there  difference  still : 

— Equal  reverence  to  the  Three, 

To  the  One  all  glory,  be !     Amen. 

K 


130  TRINITAS. 

XXII. 

TRINITAS. 

T)ROFITENTES  Unitatem 
JL     Veneremur  Trinitatera 

Pan  reverentia, 
Tres  Personas  asserentes 
Personal!  differentes  5 

A  se  differentia. 

Hsec  dicuntur  relative^ 
Quum  sint  unum  substantive, 

Non  tria  principia. 

Sive  dicas  tres  vel  tria,  10 

Simplex  tamen  est  usia, 

Non  triplex  essentia. 

Simplex  esse,  simplex  posse, 
Simplex  velle,  simplex  nossc, 

Cuncta  simplicia.  15 

Non  unius  quam  duarum 
Sive  trium  Personarum 

Minor  efficacia. 


TRINITY.  131 

XXII. 
TRINITY. 

WE,  the  Unity  confessing, 
Must  the  Trinity  be  blessing 
In  our  worship  equally ; 
In  three  Persons  thus  believing ; 
Difference  'twixt  them  each  perceiving  5 

In  their  Personality. 

Relatively  of  these  speak  we, 
Substantively  but  one  make  we, 

Nor  three  Persons  in  them  see; 
Call  them  three  or  threefold,  never  10 

But  one  substance  are  they  ever, 

Neither  in  their  essence  three. 

One  in  being,  One  in  power, 
One  in  will  and  wisdom's  dower, 

One  in  all  respects  they  be  :  15 

Of  all  these  three  Persons,  either 
One,  or  two,  or  all  together, 

Are  Almighty  equally. 


13*  TRINITAS. 

Pater,  Proles,  Sacrum  Flamen, 

Deus  unus  :  sed  hi  tarn  en  20 

Habent  qusedam  propria. 
Una  virtus,  unum  numen, 
Unus  splendor,  unum  lumen, 

Hoc  una  quod  alia. 

Patri  Proles  est  sequalis,  25 

Nee  hoc  tollit  personalis 

Amborum  distinctio. 
Patri  compar  Filioque, 
Spiritalis  ab  utroque 

Procedit  connexio.  30 

Non  humana  ratione 
Capi  possunt  hse  Personae, 

Nee  harum  discretio. 
Non  hie  ordo  temporalis, 
Non  hie  situs,  aut  localis  35 

Rerum  circumscriptio. 

Nil  in  Deo  prseter  Deum, 
Nulla  causa  prseter  eum 

Qui  causat  causalia. 

Effectiva  vel  formalis  40 

Causa  Deus,  et  finalis, 

Sed  nunquam  materia 


TRINITY  133 

Father,  Son,  and  Spirit  Holy, 

Are  one  God,  but  each  hath  truly  20 

Some  peculiar  property : 
One  their  goodness,  one  their  might,  is ; 
One  their  glory,  one  their  light,  is ; 

One  are  they  entirely. 

Equal  are  the  Son  and  Father,  25 

But  from  this  we  may  not  gather 

That  their  Persons  are  the  same  : 
One  with  Son  and  Father  either, 
Not  from  one,  but  both  together, 

The  connecting  Spirit  came.  30 

These  three  Persons  that  we  mention 
Are  beyond  man's  comprehension, 

As  the  difference  each  one  shows  : 
Time  and  place  alike  unbounded 
Are  for  them,  and  unsurrounded  35 

By  the  limits  nature  knows. 

Naught  but  God  God's  self  compriseth, 
Nor  from  other  cause  ariseth, 

Cause  of  all  causality : 

Though  the  cause,  all  things  respecting,       40 
Formal,  final,  and  effecting, 

Immaterial  is  He. 


134  TRINITAS. 

Digne  loqui  de  Personis 
Vim  transcendit  rationis, 

Excedit  ingenia.  45 

Quid  sit  gigni,  quid  processus, 
Me  nescire  sum  professus  : 

Sed  fide  non  dubia. 

Qui  sic  credit,  ne  festinet, 

Et  a  via  non  declinet  50 

Insolerter  regia. 
Servet  fidem,  formet  mores, 
Non  declinet  ad  errores 

Quos  damnat  Ecclesia. 

Nos  in  fide  gloriemur,  55 

Nos  in  una  modulemur 

Fidei  constantia : 
Trinse  sit  laus  Unitati, 
Sit  et  simplae  Trinitati 

Coaeterna  gloria !    Amen.  60 


TRINITY.  135 

To  describe  these  Persons  duly 
Far  transcends  man's  reason  truly, 

And  exceeds  his  wit  as  well :  45 

What  that  birth  is,  that  procession, 
Though  faith  doubts  not,  my  confession 

Must  be  that  I  cannot  tell. 

Who  believes  this,  nought  dismayeth ; 

He  ne'er  ignorantly  strayeth  50 

From  this  creed's  right  royal  road ; 
Keeps  the  faith,  his  life  makes  purer, 
Not  declining  into  error 

Censured  by  the  Church  of  God. 

In  this  faith  then  let  us  glory,  55 

And  in  one  consistent  story 

Hold  it  in  its  verity : 
Praise  be  to  the  Triune  Godhead ; 
To  the  Three  in  One  included 

Co-eternal  glory  be !     Amen.  60 


136  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 


XXIII. 
DEDICATIO   ECCLESI^E. 

QUAM  DILECTA  TABERNACULA   DOMINI  VIRTUTUM, 
ET  ATRIA! 


Q 


,UAM  electi 
Architecti, 
Tuta  ledificia, 

Quae  non  movent,  5 

I  mo  fovent 
Ventus,  flumen,  pluvia ! 

Quam  decora  fundamenta 
Per  concinna  sacramenta 

Umbrae  praecurrentia !  10 

Latus  Adae  dormientis 
Evam  fundit,  in  manentis 

Copulae  primordia. 

Area  ligno  fabricata 
Noe  servat,  gubernata  15 

Mundi  per  diluvium. 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.    137 


XXIII. 
ON  THE  DEDICATION    OF    A  CHURCH. 

O    HOW    LOVELY   ARE    THE    COURTS    DIVINE   OF   THE 
LORD   OF    HOSTS,    HIS   HALLOWED    SHRINE  ! 

OHOW  skilled  the 
Hands  that  build  thee ; 
How  secure  thy  walls  remain ; 

Ne'er  subverted,  5 

But  supported 
Rather  by  wind,  flood,  and  rain  ! 

O  how  comely  thy  foundations, 
By  deep  mysteries'  celebrations 

Shadowing  forth  the  coming  day !          10 
Adam,  when  in  sleep  reclining, 
From  his  side  pours  Eve,  beginning 

Thus  a  bond  to  last  for  aye. 

Noah,  in  ark  of  wood  constructed, 
O'er  that  flood  is  safe  conducted,  1 5 

Which  did  all  the  world  destroy. 


138  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

Prole  sera  tandem  fceta, 
Anus  Sara  ridet  laeta, 

Nostrum  lactans  gaudium. 

Servus  bibit  qui  legatur  20 

Et  camelus  adaquatur 

Ex  Rebeccas  hydria. 
Haec  inaures  et  armillas 
Aptat  sibi,  ut  per  illas 

Virgo  fiat  congrua.  25 

Synagoga  supplantatur 
A  Jacob,  dum  devagatur 

Nimis  freta  litterae. 
Liam  lippam  latent  multa : 
Quibus  Rachel  videns  fulta,  30 

Pari  nubit  fcedere. 

In  bivio  tegens  nuda, 
Geminos  parit  ex  Juda 

Thamar  diu  vidua. 

Hie  Moyses  a  puella,  35 

Dum  se  lavat,  in  fiscella 

Reperitur  scirpea. 

Hie  mas  agnus  immolatur, 
Quo  Israel  satiatur, 

Tinctus  ejus  sanguine.  40 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     139 

Great  with  offspring  long  awaited, 
Aged  Sarah  laughs,  elated, 

Giving  milk  to  feed  our  joy. 

Thirst  the  servant-legate  slaketh,  20 

And  its  fill  his  camel  taketh, 

From  Rebecca's  water-pail. 
She,  as  rings  and  chains  she  weareth, 
Fitly  thus  herself  prepareth 

To  assume  the  bridal  veil.  25 

Since  it  so  the  letter  vaunteth, 
Jacob  now  the  Law  supplanteth, 

Whilst  it  roams  forth  far  and  wide. 
Rachel,  since  she  sees  much  hidden 
From  Leah's  tender  sight,  is  bidden  30 

To  an  equal  rank  as  bride. 

Tamar,  long  a  widow1  biding, 
By  the  way  her  features  hiding, 

Doth  twin-sons  to  Judah  bear. 
Here  in  basket  made  of  rushes  35 

Moses  see,  who,  while  she  washes, 

Was  perceived  by  maiden  fair. 

Here  the  male  lamb,  immolated, 
Wherewith  Israel's  tribes  are  sated, 

And  besprinkled  with  its  blood.  40 


140  DEDICATIO  ECCLESIJS. 

Hie  transitur  rubens  unda, 
^Egyptios  sub  profunda 
Obruens  voragine. 

Hie  est  urna  manna  plena, 

Hie  mandata  legis  dena,  45 

Sed  in  area  foederis. 
Hie  sunt  aedis  ornamenta, 
Hie  Aaron  indumenta 

Quae  praecedit  poderis. 

Hie  Urias  viduatur,  50 

Bethsabee  sublimatur, 

Sedis  censors  regiae. 
Haec  regi  varietate 
Vestis  astat  deauratae, 

Sicut  regum  filiae.  55 

Hue  venit  Austri  regina, 
Salomonis  quam  divina 

Condit  sapientia. 
Haec  est  nigra  sed  formosa, 
Myrrhae  et  thuris  fumosa,  60 

Virga  pigmentaria. 

Haec  futura 
Quae  figura 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     141 

Here  the  Red  Sea,  safe  passed  over, 
Which  the  Egyptian  host  did  cover 
With  its  deep  devouring  flood. 


Here  the  pot  that  manna  filleth ; 

Here  the  Decalogue  God  willeth,  45 

In  the  ark  of  covenant  bound. 
Here  the  Temple's  decorations ; 
Aaron's  robes  for  ministrations, 

Chief  the  one  that  sweeps  the  ground. 

Here  his  wife  Uriah  loseth ;  50 

Here  the  king  for  consort  chooseth 

Bathsheba,  his  throne  to  share. 
As  she  by  him  takes  her  station, 
Dons  she  gold's  rich  decoration, 

Such  as  monarchs'  daughters  wear.        55 

Hither  Sheba's  queen  progresseth, 
She,  whom  Solomon  impresseth 

With  his  wisdom  all-divine  : 
Black  she  is,  but  comely ;  blending 
Charms,  as  when  in  smoke  ascending  60 

Myrrh  and  frankincense  combine. 

Things  forth-coming, 
Darkly  looming, 


14*  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

Oburabravit, 

Reseravit  65 

Nobis  dies  gratiae : 

Jam  in  lecto 

Cum  dilecto 

Quiescamus 

Et  psallamus :  70 

Adsunt  enim  nuptiae. 

Quarum  tonat  initium 
In  tubis  epulantium 
Et  finis  per  psalterium. 

Sponsum  millena  millia  75 

Una  canunt  melodia, 
Sine  fine  dicentia : 
Alleluia ! 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH,  ^.143 

'Neath  types  shaded, 

Are  paraded  65 

Plainly  by  this  day  of  grace : 

With  the  dear  one 

Lying  near  one, 

Rest  we,  raising 

Psalms  of  praising ;  70 

For  the  marriage  now  takes  place. 

On  first  assembling  for  the  feast 

Is  heard  the  trumpets'  thrilling  blast ; 

Sweet  psalteries'  notes  ring  forth  at  last. 

The  Bridegroom  in  ten  thousand  ways          75 
These  myriad  minstrels  hymn,  whose  lays 
Are  still  the  same,  as  still  they  raise 
Their  Alleluia's  endless  praise  ! 


144  DEDICATIO  ECCLESIA. 


XXIV. 


DEDICATIO 


REX  Salomon  fecit  templum, 
Quorum  instar  et  exemplum 
Christus  et  Ecclesia. 
Hujus  hie  est  imperator, 
Fundamentum  et  fundator,  5 

Mediante  gratia. 

Quadri  templi  fundamenta 
Marmora  sunt,  instrumenta 

Parietum  paria  ; 

Candens  flos  est  castitatis,  10 

Lapis  quadrus  in  praelatis 

Virtus  et  constantia. 


Longitudo, 

Latitude, 
Templique  sublimitas,  15 

Intellects 

Fide  recta, 
Sunt  fides,  spes,  caritas. 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A  CHURCH.     145 
XXIV. 

ON  THE  DEDICATION   OF  A   CHURCH. 

SOLOMON,  the  King,  a  Temple 
Built,  whose  pattern  and  example 
Christ,  with  Holy  Church,  appears  : 
He,  its  founder  and  foundation, 
Sway,  through  grace's  mediation,  5 

As  the  Church's  ruler  bears. 

Squarely  built,  this  Temple's  bases 
Are  of  marble ;  each  wall's  space  is 

Formed  of  stones  cut  evenly : 
Chastity's  fair  flower  there  twineth ;  10 

Each  squared  stone  therein  combineth, 

Prelates'  nerve  and  constancy. 

Its  far-reaching 

Length,  and  stretching 
Width,  and  height  that  tempts  the  sky,     15 

Faith  explaining 

The  true  meaning, 
Are  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity. 


146  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

Sed  tres  partes  sunt  in  Templo 
Trinitatis  sub  exemplo  20 

Ima,  summa,  media : 
Ima  signal  vivos  cunctos, 
Et  secunda  jam  defunctos, 

Redivivos  tertia. 


Sexagenos  quaeque  per  se,  25 

Sed  et  partes  universae 

Habent  lati  cubitos  : 
Harum  trium  tres  conventus 
Trinitati  dant  concentus 

Unitati  debitos.  30 

Templi  cultus 

Extat  multus, 

Cinnamomus 

Odor  domus, 
Myrrha,  stacte,  casia;  35 

Qua?  bonorum 

Decus  morum 

Atque  bonos 

Precum  sonos 
Sunt  significantia.  40 

In  hac  casa 
Cuncta  vasa 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A  CHURCH.      147 

Tripartite  is  this  fair  Temple, 

After  the  Triune's  example,  20 

With  first,  third,  and  middle  floor : 
First,  the  living  signifying ; 
Second,  those  in  death  now  lying, 

Third,  those  raised  to  life  once  more. 

All  the  parts  together  rated,  25 

Or  alone,  are  calculated 

Threescore  cubits  wide  to  be  : 
Triply  do  these  three,  thus  blending, 
Harmonize  with  the  transcending 

Trinity  in  Unity.  30 

Gorgeous  ritual 

And  perpetual 

Scents,  sweet  smelling, 

Fill  God's  dwelling, 
Cassia,  myrrh,  and  cinnamon ;  35 

Signifying 

Never-dying 

Christian  graces, 

Prayers,  and  praises, 
Grateful  offerings  at  His  throne.  40 

In  this  palace 
Is  each  chalice 


H8  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

Sunt  ex  auro, 

De  thesauro 
Praeelecto  penitus :  45 

Nam  magistros 

Et  ministros 

Decet  doctos 

Et  excoctos 
Igne  Sancti  Spiritus.  50 

Sic  ex  bonis 

Salomonis 

Quse  Rex  David 

Praeparavit 
Fiunt  aedificia ;  55 

Nam  in  lignis 

Res  insignis 

Vivit  Tyri, 

Cujus  viri 
Tractant  artificia.  60 

Nam  ex  gente  Judaeisque 
Sicut  Templum  ab  utrisque 

Conditur  Ecclesia : 
Christe,  qui  hanc  et  hos  unis, 
Lapis  huic  et  his  communis,  65 

Tibi  laus  et  gloria  !    Amen. 


ON  THE  DEDICA  TION  OF  A   CHURCH.      149 

A  gold  measure 

From  the  treasure 
Pre-elected  secretly :  45 

For  all  teachers' 

Minds,  and  preachers', 

Throughly  furnished, 

Purged,  and  burnished, 
By  the  Spirit's  fire  should  be.  50 

Thus  with  treasure, 

David's  pleasure 

Had  collected, 

Is  erected 
Solomon's  great  sanctuary ;  55 

But  the  dwelling, 

All  excelling, — 

Timber  sending, 

Craftsmen  lending, — 
Tyre's  art  fashioned  cunningly.  60 

Formed  of  Jew  and  Gentile  races, 
Builds  the  Church  her  holy  places, 

As  did  both  the  Temple  raise. 
Christ,  Who  both  in  one  unitest ! 
Corner-stone  of  each !  the  brightest  65 

Glory  be  to  Thee  and  praise.     Amen. 


ISO  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI^. 


XXV. 
DEDICATIO  ECCLESLE. 

CLARA  choras  dulce  pangat  voce  nunc 
alleluia, 
Ad  aetemi  Regis  laudem  qui  gubernat  omnia  ! 


Cui  nos  universalis  sociat  Ecclesia, 
Scala  nitens  et  pertingens  ad  poli  fastigia ; 


Ad  honorem  cujus  laeta  psallamus  melodia,        5 
Persolventes  hodiernas  kudes  illi  debitas. 


O  felix  aula,  quam  vicissim 
Confrequentant  agmina  ccelica, 

Divinis  verbis  alternatim 
Jungentia  mellea  cantica  !  10 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A  CHURCH.      151 


XXV. 


ON  THE  DEDICATION    OF  A  CHURCH. 


ET  our  choir  now  loudly  join  their  Alleluia's 
brightest  strains, 


L1 

The  eternal  Monarch  praising,  who  o'er  all  creation 
reigns ! 


Unto  Him  the  universal  Church  uniteth  us  in  love, 
Like  a  shining  ladder  reaching  to  the  heights  of 
heaven  above. 


To  His  honour  psalms  of  gladness  we  in  tuneful 
strains  upraise,  5 

Paying  thus  the  proper  tribute  to  Him  of  our  daily 
praise. 


O  hall  of  bliss  !  where,  in  due  order, 
Troops  of  angels  gather  continually  ; 

And  with  divine  words,  alternating, 
Join  sweet  strains  of  ravishing  melody  ! 


152  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI^E. 

Domus    haec,    de    qua    vetusta    sonuit 

historia 
Et    moderna    protestatur    Christum    fari 

pagina : 

"  Quoniam  elegi  earn  thronum  sine  macula, 
Requies  haec  erit  mea  per  eterna  saecula." 


Tunis  supra  montem  sita,  1 5 

Indissolubili  bitumine  fundata 

Vallo  perenni  munita, 

Atque  aurea  columna 
Miris  ac  variis  lapidibus  distincta, 

Stylo  subtili  polita  !  20 


Ave,  mater  praeelecta, 
Ad  quam  Christus  fatur  ita 

Prophetae  facundia : 
"  Sponsa  mea  speciosa, 
Inter  filias  formosa,  25 

Supra  solem  splendida ! 


"  Caput  tuum  ut  Carmelus, 
Et  ipsius  comae  tinctae  regis  uti  purpura ; 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     153 

Tis  the  home  of  which  the  former  Testament  did 
sound  the  praise, 

And  of  which  the  New  declareth  that  'tis  Christ 
Himself  that  says : 

"  Seeing  I  have  chosen  this  to  be  my  throne  of 
purity, 

Henceforth  through  undying  ages  here  my  resting- 
place  shall  be ! " 

Tower  !  on  a  Mount  erected,  15 

And  with  cement  that  melteth  not  upon  it  founded, 

By  perennial  walls  protected, 

And  with  pillared  gold  surrounded, 
Of  divers  jewels,   polished  with  fine  skill,  com- 
pounded, 

For  their  rarity  selected  !  20 

Elect  Mother !  hail !  whom,  blessing, 
Christ  is  in  these  words  addressing 

Of  impassioned  prophecy : 
"  Rise,  my  lovely  spouse  !  the  fairest 
'Mongst  earth's  daughters  thou  appearest,    25 

Brighter  than  the  sun  on  high  ! 

"  Lo  !  thy  head  is  like  Mount  Carmel, 
And  the  flowing  locks  upon  it,  as  with  regal  purple, 
red: 


154  DEDICATIO  ECCLESIM. 

Oculi  ut  columbarum, 
Genae  tuae  punicorum  ceu  malorum  fragmina  !  30 


"  Collum  tuum  ut  columna,  turns  et  eburnea ; 
Mel  et  lac  sub  lingua  tua,  favus  stillans  labia  ! " 


Ergo  nobis  Sponsae  tuae 
Famulantibus,  O  Christe,  pietate  solita, 

Clemens  adesse  digneris,  35 

Et  in  tuo  salutari  nos  ubique  visita. 


Ipsaque  mediatrice,  summe  Rex,  perpetue, 

Voce  pura 
Flagitamus,  da  gaudere  Paradisi  gloria. 

Alleluia !  40 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     155 

Doves'  eyes  do  thine  eyes  resemble ; 
Like  a  piece  of  a  pomegranate  are  the  temples  of 
thine  head.  30 

"Like  a  column  is  thy  neck  and  like  an  ivory 

tower's  walls; 
Milk  and  honey  'neath  thy  tongue,   thy  lips  a 

comb  whence  honey  falls." 

Therefore  still  with  us,  the  servants 
Of  Thy  spouse,  O  Christ !  we  pray  Thee,  in  Thy 

never-failing  love 

Kindly  deign  Thou  to  be  present :  35 

Everywhere  with  Thy  salvation  visit  us  from  heaven 
above  ! 

Through  her  mediation  also,  King   Most  High  ! 
perpetually 

We  implore  Thee 

Loudly,    that   with    alleluias  we    'midst    joys  of 
Paradise 

May  adore  Thee !  40 


156  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

XXVI. 
DEDICATIO   ECCLESLE. 

T  ERUSALEM  et  Sion  filiae, 
J  Coetus  omnis  fidelis  curiae, 
Melos  pangas  jugis  laetitiae, 

Alleluia! 

Christus  enim  desponsat  hodie  5 

Matrem  nostram,  norma  justitiae, 
Quam  de  lacu  traxit  miseriae, 

Ecclesiam. 

In  Spiritus  Sancti  dementia, 

Sponsa  sponsi  lastatur  gratia  :  10 

A  reginis,  laudum  cum  gloria, 

Felix  dicta. 

Dos  ut  datur,  crescit  laetitia  : 
Quae  dos !  quanta  !  triplex  potentia, 
Tangens  coelum,  terram  et  stygia  15 

Judicia. 

Mira  loquar,  sed  sanum  credere  : 
Foederatam  tarn  largo  munere, 
De  proprio  produxit  latere 

Deus-Homo.  20 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     157 


XXVI. 
ON  THE   DEDICATION   OF  A   CHURCH. 

JERUSALEM  and  Sion's  daughters  fair  ! 
And  all  the  faithful  crowd  that  worship  there  ! 
That  ceaseless  strain  of  tuneful  joy  prepare, 

"Alleluia!" 

For  Christ,  Who  doth  all  righteousness  display,    5 
Is  to  our  Mother- Church  espoused  to-day, 
That  Church,  whom  He  in  love  hath  drawn  away 
From  depths  of  woe. 

Through  the  blest  Spirit's  mercy  from  above 

The  Bride  rejoices  in  the  Bridegroom's  love  :       10 

Earth's  queens  with  glorious  praises  doth  she  move 

To  call  her  blest. 

'Mid  greater  joy  still  is  her  dowry  given : 
What !  and  how  great !  that  threefold  power,  which 

heaven, 
And  earth  below,  and  the  dread  judgments  even  15 

Of  hell  affects. 

Belief  is  wise,  though  strange  my  tale  : — that  bride, 
By  gifts  of  such  vast  magnitude  allied 
To  Him,  was  taken  out  of  His  own  side 

By  the  God-Man  :  20 


158  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI^E. 

Formaretur  ut  sic  Ecclesia 
Figuravit  in  pan  gloria 
Adae  costis  formata  femina, 
Hostis  Eva. 

Eva  fuit  noverca  posteris  :  25 

Haec  est  mater  electi  generis, 
Vitae  portus,  asylum  miseris 

Et  tutela. 

Pulchra,  potens,  partu  mirabilis, 
Ut  luna,  sol,  fulget  spectabilis,  30 

Plus  acie  multo  terribilis 

Ordinata, 

Multiplex  est,  singularis,  una, 

Generalis  et  individua ; 

Omnis  aevi,  sexus,  simul  una  35 

Parit  turmas. 

Haec  signata  Jordanis  fluctibus  ; 
Haec  quae  venit  a  terras  finibus, 
Scientiam  audire  cominus 

Salomonis.  40 

Haec  typicis  descripta  sensibus, 
Nuptiarum  induta  vestibus, 
Coeli  praeest  hodie  civibus 
Christo  juncta. 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A   CHURCH.     159 

That  thus  the  Church  should  form  and  shape  receive 
In  equal  glory,  we  a  type  believe 
Was  woman,  formed — source  of  our  sorrow,  Eve  !— 
From  Adam's  rib. 


Eve  a  stepmother  hath  been  to  her  seed  ;  25 

The  Church  to  her  elect  a  mother  indeed, 
Life's  haven,  an  asylum  in  their  need, 

And  sure  defence. 

She,  beautiful  and  great,  in  birth  divine, 
Fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun  doth  shine ;    30 
More  terrible  than  armies'  serried  line, 

With  banners  dight. 

Multifold  is  she,  yet  but  one  alone ; 

As  all  together,  and  each  singly,  known  ; 

Of  every  age  and  sex,  yet  only  one ;  35 

Troops  she  brings  forth. 
Jordan  !  thy  waves  a  type  of  her  appear, 
And  she,  that  from  the  ends  of  earth  drew  near, 
That,  face  to  face,  she  might  the  wisdom  hear 

Of  Solomon.  40 

She,  whom  these  types,  when  understood,  portray, 
Robed  for  her  marriage-feast  in  bright  array, 
Presides  o'er  all  the  heavenly  host  to-day, 
The  bride  of  Christ. 


160  DEDICATIO  ECCLESI&. 

O  solemnis  festum  laetitiae ;  45 

Quo  unitur  Christus  Ecclesiae, 
In  quo  nostrse  salutis  nuptiae 
Celebrantur  ! 

Ccetus  felix,  dulce  convivium, 

Lapsis  ubi  datur  solatium,  50 

Desperatis  offertur  spatium 

Respirandi ! 

Justis  inde  solvuntur  praemia, 
Angelorum  novantur  gaudia, 
Lseta  nimis  quod  facit  gratia  55 

Charitatis. 

Ab  aeterno  fons  sapientiae, 

Intuitu  solius  gratiae, 

Sic  praevidit  in  rerum  serie 

Hsec  futura.  60 

Christus  ergo  nos  suis  nuptiis, 
Recreates  veris  deliciis, 
Interesse  faciat  gaudiis 

Electorum !     Amen. 


ON  THE  DEDICATION  OF  A    CHURCH.     161 

O  holy  joy's  bright  feast-day  in  the  skies,  45 

Which  joins  the  Church  with  Christ  in  marriage-ties  ! 
That  marriage-day,  whose  rite  mankind  allies 
With  saving-health  ! 

O  happy  gathering  !  O  sweet  feast  of  heaven  ! 
When  consolation  to  the  lapsed  is  given,  50 

And  to  the  sinner,  to  despair  now  driven, 

A  breathing-space  ! 

Here  their  rewards  are  to  the  righteous  paid, 
And  angels'  joys,  renewed  again,  displayed ; 
Feast,  by  the  grace  of  charity  thus  made  55 

Too  full  of  joy  ! 

The  fount  of  wisdom  from  the  first  hath  known, 
Through  the  clear  insight  given  by  grace  alone, 
As  the  due  course  of  things  hath  onward  gone, 

What  is  to  be  :  60 

Therefore  may  Christ,  by  these  His  marriage-rites, 
Make  us,  refreshed  thereby  with  true  delights, 
Partake  those  joys  to  which  His  love  invites 

All  His  elect !    Amen. 


FOR  SAINTS'    DAYS. 


1 64  •£   ANDREAS. 

XXVII. 
S.  ANDREAS. 

XXX°  NOVEMBRIS. 

EXULTEMUS  et  laetemur 
Et  Andreae  delectemur 
Laudibus  apostoli ; 
Hujus  fidem,  dogma,  mores, 
Et  pro  Christo  tot  labores,  5 

Digne  decet  recoli. 

Hie  ad  fidem  Petrum  duxit, 
Cui  primum  lux  illuxit, 

Joannis  indicio. 

Secus  mare  Galilaeae,  10 

Petri  simul  et  Andreae 

Sequitur  electio. 

Ambo  prius  piscatores 
Verbi  fiunt  assertores 

Et  formae  justitiae.  15 

Rete  laxant  in  capturam 
Vigilemque  gerunt  curam 

Nascentis  Ecclesiae. 


ST.   ANDREW.  165 

XXVII. 

ST.   ANDREW. 
NOVEMBER  30x11. 

LET  us,  shouts  of  gladness  raising, 
Now  delighted  to  be  praising 
The  Apostle  Andrew  be  : 
Whose  faith,  life,  and  doctrine  precious, 
With  his  mighty  works  for  Jesus,  5 

Should  be  honoured  worthily. 

He,  who  first  the  true  light's  glowing 
Saw,  at  John  the  Baptist's  showing, 

Peter  led  the  faith  to  see  ! 
Then  are  Peter  and  his  brother  10 

Called  along  with  one  another 

At  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

Fishermen  till  then,  both  preachers 
Of  the  word  become  and  teachers 

Of  the  rules  of  righteousness  :  1 5 

Now  a  net  to  catch  men  loose  they, 
And  a  wary  forethought  use  they 

The  young  Church  to  guard  and  bless. 


166  S.  ANDREAS. 


A  fratre  dividitur 

Et  in  partes  mittitur  20 

Andreas  Achaiae. 
In  Andreae  retia 
Currit,  Dei  gratia, 

Magna  pars  provinciae. 

Fide,  vita,  verbo,  signis,  25 

Doctor  pius  et  insignis, 

Cor  informal  populi. 
Ut  ^Egeas  comperit 
Quid  Andreas  egerit, 

Irae  surgunt  stimuli.  30 

Mens  secura,  mens  virilis, 
Ciii  praesens  vita  vilis, 

Viget  patientia. 
Blandimentis  aut  tormentis, 
Non  enervat  robur  mentis  35 

Judicis  insania. 

Crucem  videns  prseparari, 
Suo  gestit  conformari 

Magistro  discipulus. 
Mors  pro  morte  solvitur  40 

Et  crucis  appetitur 
Triumphalis  titulus. 


.ST.  ANDREW.  167 

Andrew  soon  his  brother  leaves, 

When  commission  he  receives,  20 

And  is  in  Achaia  placed  : 
Of  which  province  a  great  part, 
By  God's  grace  convinced  in  heart, 

To  the  nets  of  Andrew  haste. 

By  his  faith,  life,  signs,  and  speeches  25 

This  great,  good,  man's  doctrine  reaches 

And  reforms  the  people's  heart. 
When  ^Egeas  findeth  out 
All  that  Andrew  thus  had  wrought, 

Forth  his  bitter  wrath-stings  start.         30 

His  staid  heart  and  manly  spirit, 
Who  in  this  life  saw  no  merit, 

Stronger  from  endurance  grow. 
Flattering  or  tormenting  either, 
His  insensate  judge  by  neither  35 

Can  his  strength  of  mind  o'erthrow. 

When  he  sees  the  cross  preparing, 
Like  his  Master,  suffering  sharing, 

The  disciple  longs  to  be  ; 
For  Christ's  death  he  pays  his  own,  40 

And  for  its  triumphal  crown 
On  the  cross  seeks  eagerly. 


1 68  S.   ANDREAS. 


In  cruce  vixit  biduum, 

Victurus  in  perpetuum  : 

Nee  vult,  volente  populo,  45 

Deponi  de  patibulo. 

Hora  fere  dimidia 

Luce  perfusus  nimia, 

Cum  luce,  cum  laetitia, 

Pergit  ad  lucis  atria.  50 

O  Andrea  gloriose, 
Cujus  preces  pretiosae, 
Cujus  mortis  luminosae 

Dulcis  est  memoria ; 
Ab  hac  valle  lacrymarum  55 

Nos  ad  illud  lumen  clarum, 
Pie  pastor  animarum, 

Tua  transfer  gratia.     Amen. 


ST.   ANDREW.  169 

Upon  the  cross  he  lived  two  days, 
Thenceforth  to  live  in  heaven  always ; 
Nor,  when  the  people  wished,  would  he       45 
Be  lifted  from  the  fatal  tree. 

Nigh  half  an  hour  upon  that  height 

Bathed  in  a  light  exceeding  bright, 

In  light,  exulting  at  the  sight, 

He  passes  to  the  halls  of  light.  50 

Andrew,  crowned  with  endless  glory  ! 

Rich  in  prayer  propitiatory  ! 

Of  whose  brilliant  death  the  story 

Tis  so  sweet  in  thought  to  trace  ! 
From  this  vale  of  woe  exceeding  55 

To  that  light  such  radiance  shedding, 
Loving  shepherd,  spirits  feeding  ! 

O  transport  us  by  thy  grace  !     Amen. 


i?o  S.   NIC  OLA  US. 

XXVIII. 

S.  NICOLAUS. 

vi°  DECEMBRIS. 

/^ONGAUDENTES  exultemus  vocali  concordia 
Ad  beati  Nicolai  festiva  solemnia ; 


Qui  in  cunis  adhuc  jacens  servando  jejunia 
A  papillis  ccepit  summa  promereri  gaudia. 


Adolescens  amplexatur  literarum  studia, 
Alienus  et  immunis  ab  omni  lascivia. 


Felix  confessor, 
Cujus  fuit  dignitatis  vox  de  coslo  nuntia ! 

Per  quam  provectus, 
Praesulatus  sublimatur  ad  summa  fastigia.  10 


ST.  NICHOLAS.  171 


XXVIII. 

ST.   NICHOLAS. 
DECEMBER  6xH. 

ET  us  all  exult  together,  as  with  one  united 

voice 

We  upon  his  solemn  feast-day  in  St.  Nicholas 
rejoice ; 

Who,  whilst  in  his  cradle  lying,  by  observing  duly 

fast, 
Heavenly  joys  began  to  merit  even  at  his  mother's 

breast. 

In  his  youth  he  chooses  letters,  that  his  study  they 
may  be,  5 

To  all  evil  lust  a  stranger,  from  all  sinful  passions 
free. 

This  blest  confessor, 

Whom,  as  worthy  of  the  office,  'twas  a  voice  from 
heaven  praised, 

Thereby  exalted, 

Amongst  bishops  to  the  very  highest  rank  is  forth- 
with raised.  10 


i?2  S.   NIC  OLA  US. 

Erat  in  ejus  animo  pietas  eximia, 

Et  oppressis  impendebat  multa  beneficia. 


Auro  per  eum  virginum  tollitur  infamia, 
Atque  patris  earundem  levatur  inopia. 


Quidam  nautae  navigantes,  15 

Et  contra  fluctuum  ssevitiam  luctantes, 

Navi  pene  dissoluta, 

Jam  de  vita  desperantes, 
In  tanto  positi  periculo,  clamantes 

Voces  dicunt  omnes  una  :  20 


"  O  beate  Nicolae, 

Nos  ad  maris  porturn  trahe 

De  mortis  angustia. 
Trahe  nos  ad  portum  maris, 
Tu  qui  tot  auxiliaris  25 

Pietatis  gratia." 


Dum  clamarent,  nee  incassum, 
"  Ecce !  "  quidam  dicit,  "  assum 


.ST.    NICHOLAS.  173 

There  was  too  in  his  character  benevolence  ex- 
ceeding, 

And  many  a  bounty  he  bestowed,  the  tale  of  sorrow 
heeding. 

With  gold  he  saved  some  maidens,  who  had  else 

vile  lives  been  leading, 
Relieving  all  their  father's  want,  when  help  most 

sorely  needing. 

Certain  sailors  once,  when  sailing,  15 

And  fighting  'gainst   fierce  waves   with   struggles 
unavailing, 

Shipwrecked  nigh  through  stress  of  weather ; 

Hope  of  life  already  failing, 
Amid  such  dangers  set,  aloud  their  fate  bewailing, 

Lift  their  voices  altogether :  20 

"  Blessed  Nicholas  !  O  steer  us 
From  the  straits  of  death  so  near  us 

To  the  haven  of  the  sea  ! 
To  that  harbour  in  the  distance 
Draw  us,  who  dost  grant  assistance  25 

Through  the  grace  of  charity  ! " 

"  Lo ! " — while  thus  they  cried,  norvainly, — 
"  I  am  here  !  "  a  voice  said  plainly, 


174  •£  NIC  OLA  US. 

Ad  vestra  praesidia." 

Statim  aura  datur  grata  30 

Et  tempestas  fit  sedata  : 

Quieverunt  maria. 

Nos,  qui  sumus  in  hoc  mundo, 
Vitiorum  in  profundo 

Jam  passi  naufragia,  35 

Gloriose  Nicolae, 
Ad  salutis  portum  trahe, 

Ubi  pax  et  gloria. 

Ex  ipsius  tumba  manat 

Unctionis  copia,  40 

Quae  infirmos  omnes  sanat 

Per  ejus  suffragia. 

Ipsam  nobis  unctionem 
Impetres  ad  Dominum, 

Prece  pia,  45 

Quae  sanavit  laesionem 
Multorum  peccaminum 
In  Maria. 

Hujus  festum  celebrantes  gaudeant  per  saecula, 
Et  coronet  eos  Christus  post  vitae  curricula  !       50 
Amen  dicant  omnia ! 


ST.   NICHOLAS.  175 

"  To  watch  o'er  you  and  to  aid  !  " 
Instantly  blow  favouring  breezes,  30 

Instantly  the  tempest  ceases, 

And  to  rest  the  sea  is  laid. 

We,  now  in  this  world  abiding, 

Have  been  wrecked,  as  we  were  riding 

O'er  the  deep  abyss  of  vice  :  35 

Draw  us,  Nicholas  most  glorious  ! 
To  the  home  of  peace  victorious, 

To  the  port  of  Paradise  ! 

From  his  tomb,  to  heal  diseases, 

Oil  abundant  floweth  forth,  40 

Which  the  sick  from  pain  releases 

Through  his  prayers'  availing  worth. 

May  we  of  the  self-same  ointment 
Through  thy  pious  prayer  to  God 

Gain  possession,  45 

Which  did  by  the  Lord's  appointment 
Heal  the  wounds  of  Mary's  load 
Of  transgression ! 

Let  them  joy  throughout  all  ages,  who  observe  this 

holy  day, 
And,  when  this  life's  course  is  ended,  crowned  in 

heaven  by  Christ  be  they  !  50 

Amen  !  let  all  creatures  say  ! 


176  5.  STEPS  ANUS. 

XXIX. 

»  S.   STEPHANUS. 

xxvi°  DECEMBRIS. 

HER  I  mundus  exultavit 
Et  exultans  celebravit 
Christi  natalitia  ; 
Heri  chorus  angelorum 
Prosecutus  est  coelorum  5 

Regem  cum  laetitia. 

Protomartyr  et  Levita, 
Clarus  fide,  clarus  vita, 

Clarus  et  miraculis, 

Sub  hac  luce  triumphavit,  10 

Et  triumphans  insultavit 

Stephanus  incredulis. 

Fremunt  ergo  tanquam  ferae, 
Quia  victi  defecere 

Lucis  adversarii :  15 

Falsos  testes  statuunt, 
Et  linguas  exacuunt 
Viperarum  filii. 


ST.  STEPHEN.  177 

XXIX. 

ST.    STEPHEN. 
DECEMBER  26111. 

"YESTERDAY  the  world,  elated, 
X    Joyed,  and,  joying,  celebrated 

Christ  the  Saviour's  natal  day : 
Yesterday,  heaven's  King  surrounding, 
Angel-choirs,  his  welcome  sounding,  5 

Sang  to  him  with  joyful  lay. 

Protomartyr  and  a  deacon, 

Faith's  clear  light  and  life's  bright  beacon, 

For  his  wonder-works  well  known, 
Stephen  on  this  day  all-glorious  10 

Won  the  victory,  and,  victorious, 

Trod  the  unbelievers  down. 

Thus,  since  those  'gainst  light  engaging, 
Conquered,  fail,  behold  them  raging 

Like  wild  beasts  in  their  despair :  15 

Lying  witnesses  they  bring, 
And  with  bitter  words  they  sting, 
Seed  of  vipers  that  they  are  ! 

N 


178  S.   STEPHANUS. 

Agonista,  nulli  cede, 

Certa  certus  de  mercede,  20 

Persevera,  Stephane : 
Insta  falsis  testibus, 
Confuta  sermonibus 
Synagogam  Satanae. 

Testis  tuus  est  in  coelis,  25 

Testis  verax  et  fidelis, 

Testis  innocentise. 
Nomen  habes  Coronati : 
Te  tormenta  decet  pati 

Pro  corona  gloriae.  30 

Pro  corona  non  marcenti 
Prefer  brevis  vim  tormenti ! 

Te  manet  victoria. 
Tibi  fiet  mors  natalis, 
Tibi  poena  terminalis  35 

Dat  vitae  primordia. 

Plenus  Sancto  Spiritu, 
Penetrat  intuitu 

Stephanus  coelestia. 
Videns  Dei  gloriam,  40 

Crescit  ad  victoriatn, 

Suspirat  ad  pnemia. 


ST.   STEPHEN.  179 

Champion  !  yield  to  none,  but  ever 
Persevere  in  thine  endeavour,  20 

Stephen  !  sure  of  sure  reward  : 
Their  false  witnesses  withstand, 
And  confute  all  Satan's  band 
By  thine  eloquence  outpoured. 

In  the  heavens  thy  Witness  dwelleth ;  25 

Truly,  faithfully,  He  telleth 

How  thou  hast  no  evil  done  : 
Since  "a  crown"  for  name  thou  bearest, 
Suffering  first  thou  fitly  sharest, 

Till  thy  glory-crown  be  won.  30 

For  that  crown's  unfading  dower 
Choose  to  bear  brief  torture's  power ; 

There  awaits  thee  victory  ! 
Death  new  birth  for  thee  portendeth, 
And  its  pain,  which  quickly  endeth,  35 

Is  the  dawn  of  life  to  thee. 

Full  of  the  blest  Spirit's  grace, 
Stephen  into  heaven's  space 

Penetrates  with  lightened  eyes ; 
Gazing  on  God's  glory,  he  40 

Waxes  strong  for  victory, 

Longing  for  its  deathless  prize. 


i8o  S.   STEPHANUS. 


En  a  dextris  Dei  stantem, 
Jesum  pro  te  dimicantem, 

Stephane,  considera:  45 

Tibi  coelos  reserari, 
Tibi  Christum  revelari, 

Clama  voce  libera. 

Se  commendat  Salvatori, 

Pro  quo  dulce  ducit  mori  50 

Sub  ipsis  lapidibus. 
Saulus  servat  omnium 
Vestes  lapidantium, 
Lapidans  in  omnibus. 

Ne  peccatum  statuatur  55 

His,  a  quibus  lapidatur, 
Genu  ponit,  et  precatur, 

Condolens  insaniae : 
In  Christo  sic  obdormivit, 
Qui  Christo  sic  obedivit,  60 

Et  cum  Christo  semper  vivit, 

Martyrum  primitise. 

Quod  sex  suscitaverit 

Mortuos  in  Africa, 
Augustinus  asserit,  65 

Fama  refert  publica. 


ST.  STEPHEN,  181 

Lo !  at  God's  own  right  hand  standing, 
Jesus,  in  thy  cause  contending, 

Stephen !  lift  thine  eyes  and  see  !          45 
Cry  that  heaven  now  open  lieth ; 
And  that  Christ  thine  eye  descrieth 

Cry  aloud  in  accents  free  ! 

To  his  Lord  his  soul  commending, 

Sweet  he  deems  it  at  life's  ending  50 

'Neath  these  stones  for  him  to  fall. 
Saul  stands  by  and  keeps  the  clothes 
Of  each  stoner  as  he  throws, 

Stoning  Stephen  through  them  all. 

That  the  Lord  would  not  be  laying  55 

To  his  murderers'  charge  this  slaying, 
Stephen  kneeleth  down,  and,  praying, 

Mourns  their  mad  and  reckless  deed  : 
So  asleep  in  Christ  fell  Stephen, 
Who  had  Christ  to  serve  so  striven,  60 

And  now  lives  with  Christ  in  heaven, 

First-fruits  of  the  martyrs'  seed ! 

That  in  Africa  from  death 

He  six  men  to  life  revived, 
Is  a  fact  Augustine  saith,  65 

And  one  commonly  believed. 


182  S.   STEPHANUS. 

Hujus,  Dei  gratia, 

Revelato  corpora, 
Mundo  datur  pluvia 

Siccitatis  tempore.  70 

Solo  fugat  hie  odore 

Morbos  et  dsemonia, 
Laude  dignus  et  honore 

Jugique  memoria. 

Martyr,  cujus  est  jocundum  75 

Nomen  in  Ecclesia, 
Languescentem  fove  mundum 

Coelesti  fragrantia.    Amen. 


ST.  STEPHEN.  183 

When,  by  God's  grace,  his  remains 

From  their  grave  to  light  were  brought, 

Then  were  given  heavy  rains 

On  the  earth  in  time  of  drought.  70 

He  by  perfume  rare  alone 

Makes  disease  and  demons  flee, 
And  due  praise  and  fame  hath  won 

With  a  deathless  memory. 

Martyr  !  whose  sweet  name  doth  live  75 

In  the  Church  so  pleasantly, 
An  enfeebled  world  revive 

With  thy  heavenly  fragrancy  !     Amen. 


1 84  S.   STEPHANUS. 

XXX. 

S.     STEPHANUS. 
xxvi°  DECEMBRIS. 

ROSA  novum  dans  odorem, 
Adornatum  ainpliorem 
Regiae  ccelestis, 
Ab  ^Egypto  revocatur ; 
Ilium  sequi  gratulatur  5 

Cujus  erat  testis. 

Genus  nequam  et  infaustum 
Qui  se  fecit  holocaustum 

Afficit  indigne, 

Et  quod  in  Christum  credit,  10 

A  quo  tamen  non  recedit 

Passionis  igne. 

Gaudet  carne  purpurata, 
Flexo  genu,  voce  grata, 

Pro  Judaeis  orans,  15 

Ut  non  illis  imputetur 
Quia  gratis  pateretur, 

Facinus  ignorans. 


ST.   STEPHEN.  18$ 

xxx. 

ST.    STEPHEN. 
DECEMBER  26x11. 

LO  !  a  rose,  new  odour  shedding, 
Bright  with  beauty,  all  exceeding, 
From  the  halls  of  heaven, 
Out  of  Egypt  is  invited, 
And  to  follow  Christ  delighted,  5 

After  witness  given. 

An  unhappy,  evil  nation 
Treats  its  victim's  self-oblation 

In  unworthy  fashion, 

And  Christ's  truths,  for  which  he  pleadeth;  10 
Though  therefrom  he  ne'er  recedeth 

Through  his  fiery  passion. 

In  his  bruised  flesh  he  rejoices ; 
Bent  his  knee  and  soft  his  voice  is, 

For  the  Jews'  race  pleading,  15 

That  'gainst  them  his  causeless  passion 
Be  not  charged,  of  their  transgression 

Being  thus  unheeding. 


i86  S.   STEPHANUS. 

Constitutum  in  spe  certa 

Certiorat  res  aperta,  20 

Quando  Jesum  vidit 
Stantem  Patris  in  virtute ; 
Tune  ad  petram  pugnans  tute 

Pavidos  allidit. 

Uva,  data  torculari,  25 

Vult  pressuras  inculcari 

Ne  sit  infecunda ; 
Martyr  optat  petra  teri, 
Sciens  munus  adaugeri 

Sanguinis  in  unda.  30 

Nos  qui  mundi  per  desertum 
Agitamur  in  incertum, 

Stephanum  sequamur, 
Ut  securi  tanto  duce 
Trinitatis  vera  luce      »  35 

Jugiter  fruamur.    Amen. 


ST.   STEPHEN.  187 

His  hope's  certain  expectation 

Is  confirmed  to  demonstration,  20 

When  he  Christ  perceiveth 
In  His  Father's  glory  standing ; 
On  the  rock  then,  safe  contending, 

Awe-struck  foes  he  driveth. 

As  a  grape,  the  wine-press  feeding,  25 

Would  have  wine  pressed  thence  by  treading, 

Lest  it  useless  seemeth ; 
So  the  martyr  stoning  pleaseth, 
Knowing  his  reward  increaseth, 

As  his  life-blood  streameth.  30 

Let  us,  through  earth's  desert  driven 
Here  and  there,  to  follow  Stephen 

In  his  course  endeavour ; 
That,  safe  such  a  leader  under, 
We  the  Triune's  true  light  yonder  35 

May  enjoy  for  ever  !    Amen. 


i88  S.   JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

XXXI. 

S.   JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 
xxvii0  DECEMBRIS. 

GRATULEMUR  ad  festivum, 
Jocundemur  ad  votivum 
Johannis  praeconium  ! 
Sic  versetur  laus  in  ore, 
Ne  fraudetur  cor  sapore  5 

Quo  degustet  gaudium. 

Hie  est  Christi  praedilectus, 
Qui  reclinans  supra  pectus 

Hausit  sapientiam ; 

Huic  in  cruce  commendavit  10 

Matrem  Christus ;  hie  servavit 

Virgo  viri  nesciam. 

Intus  ardens  caritate, 
Foris  lucens  honestate, 

Signis  et  eloquio,  15 

Ut  ab  aestu  criminali, 
Sic  immunis  a  pcenali, 

Prodiit  ex  dolio. 


£7:   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  189 

XXXI. 

ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST. 

DECEMBER  27111. 

ON  his  feast  with  gratulation 
Joy  we  at  John's  exaltation, 
As  we  pay  our  public  vows  ! 
Let  the  mouth  so  sing  his  praises, 
That  the  relish  which  it  raises  5 

The  glad  heart  may  never  lose. 

This  is  he  most  loved  by  Jesus, 

Who  drank  draughts  of  wisdom  precious, 

As  he  on  His  breast  did  lean : 
To  whom  Mary  was  commended  10 

From  Christ's  cross ;  who,  virgin,  tended 

Her  who  had  not  known  a  man. 

Inwardly  with  warm  love  glowing, 
Outwardly  bright  virtue  showing, 

Eloquence  and  wonders  wrought ;          1 5 
As  by  lust's  consuming  fever, 
So  by  tortures'  heat,  touched  never, 

From  the  oil-vat  came  he  out. 


190  S.   JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

Vim  veneni  superavit, 

Morti,  morbis  imperavit,  20 

Necnon  et  daemonibus  : 
Sed  vir  tantae  potestatis, 
Non  minoris  pietatis 

Erat  tribulantibus. 


Cum  gemmarum  partes  fractas  25 

Solidasset,  has  distractas 

Tribuit  pauperibus. 
Inexhaustum  fert  thesaurum, 
Qui  de  virgis  fecit  aurum, 

Gemmas  de  lapidibus.  30 

Invitatur  ab  amico 
Convivari ;  Christum  dico 

Visum  cum  discipulis. 
De  sepulcro  quo  descendit, 
Redivivus  sic  ascendit  35 

Frui  summis  epulis. 


Testem  habes  populum, 
Immo,  si  vis,  oculum, 
Quod  ad  ejus  tumulum 
Manna  scatet,  epulum  40 

De  Christi  convivio. 


ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST,  191 

Poison's  strength  he  overpowered, 

Death,  disease,  beneath  him  cowered,  20 

And  the  very  devils  too  : 
But  the  man,  such  power  possessing, 
Could  no  less  bring  health  and  blessing 

Unto  those  in  want  and  woe. 


Broken  gems  by  him  were  mended,  25 

And  their  value  was  expended 

On  the  poor,  his  pious  loan. 
He  produces  boundless  treasure, 
Who  from  tree-twigs  at  his  pleasure 

Fashioned  gold,  and  gems  from  stone.  30 

By  a  friend  to  banquet  bidden, — 
Christ,  I  mean,  no  longer  hidden, 

Seen  with  His  disciples  there, — 
From  the  grave,  where  he  was  lying, 
He  arose  in  form  undying,  35 

In  the  heavenly  feast  to  share. 


There  are  crowds  to  testify, 
Nay,  yourself  may  trust  your  eye, 
How  that,  where  he  once  did  lie, 
Flows  forth  manna,  a  supply  40 

From  the  table  of  the  Lord. 


192  S.   JOANNES  EVANGELIST  A. 

Scribens  evangelium, 
Aquiise  fert  proprium, 
Cemens  soils  radium, 
Scilicet  principium,  45 

Verbum  in  principle. 

Hujus  signis  est  conversa 
Gens  gentilis,  gens  perversa, 

Gens  totius  Asiae. 

Hujus  scriptis  illustratur,  50 

Illustrata  solidatur 

Unitas  ecclesiae. 

Salve,  salvi  vas  pudoris, 

Vas  coelestis  plenum  roris, 

Mundum  intus,  clarum  foris,  55 

Nobile  per  omnia. 
Fac  nos  sequi  sanctitatem; 
Fac,  per  mentis  puritatem, 
Contemplari  Trinitatem 

In  una  substantia.     Amen.  60 


ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  193 

As  he  doth  his  Gospel  write, 
Eagle-like  in  upward  flight, 
He  beholds  the  Light  of  Light, 
Its  primaeval  source,  to  wit, 

"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word ! " 

A  perverse  and  heathen  nation, 
All  of  Asia's  population, 

To  the  faith  his  wonders  won. 
Illustrated  by  his  writing,  50 

Unity,  the  Church  uniting, 

Firmer  ground  now  stands  upon. 

Vessel,  hail !  that  no  sin  staineth ! 

Vessel,  that  heaven's  dew  containeth  ! 

Which  within  quite  pure  remaineth,  55 

Bright  without,  all  dignity ! 
Cause  us,  like  thee,  to  be  holy, 
And,  with  spirits  chastened  throughly, 
Let  us  see  the  Godhead  fully, 

In  one  substance  Persons  three.   Amen.  60 


194  •&   JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

XXXII. 

S.  JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 
xxvn0  DECEMBRIS. 

VERBI  vere  substantivi, 
Caro  cum  sit  in  declivi 
Temporis  angustia, 
In  aeternis  verbum  annis 
Permanere,  nos  Johannis  5 

Docet  theologia. 

Dum  Magistri  super  pectus 
Fontem  haurit  intellectus 

Et  doctrina?  flumina, 
Fiunt,  ipso  situ  loci,  10 

Verbo  fides,  auris  voci, 

Mens  Deo  contermina. 

Unde  mentis  per  excessus, 
Carnis,  sensus  super  gressus 

Errorumque  nubila,  15 

Contra  veri  solis  lumen 
Visum  cordis  et  acumen 

Figit  velut  aquila. 


ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  195 

XXXII. 

ST.   JOHN  THE   EVANGELIST. 
DECEMBER  27111. 

JOHN'S  theology  declareth, 
Though  on  earth  all  flesh  appeareth 
To  decline  in  swift  decay, 
That  the  Word's  word  self-existent, 
Through  all  ages  still  consistent,  5 

Will  remain  nor  pass  away. 

As  the  loved  disciple  sinketh 

On  his  Master's  breast,  and  drinketh 

Wisdom's  fount  and  learning's  stream, 
From  a  posture  so  endearing  10 

Word  and  faith,  and  speech  and  hearing, 

Mind  and  God,  converging  seem. 

By  the  flights  of  thought  thence  taken, — 
Flesh  and  carnal  sense  forsaken, — 

Far  o'er  error's  cloudy  night,  15 

Eagle-like,  by  observation, 
The  true  Sun's  illumination, 

Keeps  his  keen-eyed  heart  in  sight. 


196  S.   JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

Hebet  sensus  exsors  styli, 

Stylo  scribit  tarn  subtili,  20 

Fide  tarn  catholica, 
Ne  de  Verbo  salutari 
Posset  quicquam  refragari, 

Pravitas  haeretica. 

Verbum  quod  non  potest  dici,  25 

Quod  virtute  creatrici 

Cuncta  fecit  valde  bona, 

Iste  dicit  ab  aeterni 

Patris  nexu  non  secerni, 

Nisi  tantum  in  persona.  30 

Quern  Matthaeus  de  intactae 

Matris  alit  casto  lacte 

Cum  labore  et  aerumna ; 

Quern  exaltat  super  cruce, 

Cornu  bovis,  penna  Lucas,  35 

Ut  serpentem  in  columna ; 

Quern  de  mortis  mausoleo 

Vitae  reddit  Marci  leo, 

Scissis  petris,  terra  mota, 

Hunc  de  Deo  deum  verum  40 

ALPHA  et  £1,  Patrem  rerum, 

Solers  scribit  idiota. 


ST.    JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  197 

Want  of  style  the  sense  confuses, 

But  such  subtlety  John  uses,  20 

And  so  Catholic  his  faith, 
That  all  heretics,  depraving 
Doctrines  of  that  Word  soul-saving, 

Fail  to  gainsay  aught  he  saith. 

Lo  !  that  Word,  beyond  expression,  25 

Who  all  very  good  did  fashion 

By  His  power  of  creation, 
From  the  eternal  Sire  appeareth 
Undivided,  John  declareth, 

Save  in  Personal  relation.  30 

Whom  with  chaste  milk  Matthew  feedeth, 
Which  from  virgin  breasts  proceedeth, 

With  much  toil  and  trouble  blended ; 
Whom  that  ox-horn,  Luke's  pen,  placeth 
On  the  cross  and  high  upraiseth,  35 

As  the  serpent  was  suspended  ; 

Whom  from  death's  sepulchral  portal 
Lion  Mark  restores  immortal, 

Whilst  earth  quakes  and  rocks  are  riven ; 
Him  John  paints  with  skill  unstudied,  40 

FIRST  AND  LAST,  God  in  true  Godhead, 
Father  of  all  earth  and  heaven. 


198  S.   JOANNES  EVANGELIST  A. 

Cujus  lumen  visuale, 

Vultus  anceps,  leves  alas, 

Rotae  stantes  in  quadriga,  45 

Sunt  in  ccelo  visa,  prius 

Quam  hie  esset,  vel  illius 

Forma  capax,  vel  auriga. 

Illi  scribunt  Christum  pati 

Dolum,  inde  vim  Pilati,  50 

Cum  corona  spinea : 
Hie  sublimis  tractu  pennae 
Tractat  Christi  jus  perenne 

Cum  ultrici  framei. 

Pennis  hujus  idiotae  55 

Elevantur  Regis  rotae, 

Secus  animalia. 
Et  ccelestes  citharoadi 
Se  prosternunt  Patris  sedi 

Canentes:  Alleluia!  60 


ST.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  199 

He  the  eyes  all  round  these  creatures, 
Their  swift  wings,  their  fourfold  features, 

And  the  wheels  that  stand  beside  them,       45 
In  their  might  had  seen  in  heaven, 
Ere  form  here  to  them  was  given, 

Or  the  charioteer  to  guide  them. 

They  describe  what  craft  Christ  suffered ; 
Violence  by  Pilate  offered,  50 

With  the  thorn-crown,  then  endured : 
He,  borne  up  on  soaring  pinion, 
Treats  of  Christ's  supreme  dominion, 

And  of  His  avenging  sword. 

On  his  wings,  though  uninstructed,  55 

Rise  the  King's  own  wheels,  conducted 

As  though  on  the  living  four ; 
While  the  heavenly  harpers,  kneeling 
At  the  Father's  throne,  their  thrilling 

Alleluia's  song  outpour  !    Amen.  60 


200  S.  JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

XXXIII. 

S.  JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 
xxvii0  DECEMBRIS. 

/*"""*  HRISTO  laudes  persolvat — hie  chorus  psal- 
V.^         lens — die  ista, 

Qua  Johannes  supernae — mensae  fratrumque — est 
conviva ! 

Qui  multis  ex  maximis — claruit  miraculis — hac  in 

vita; 
Patrem,  navim,  nuptias, — seque  liquit,  Domini — 

sequens  vias. 

Clarior  hie  ceteris, — supra  pectus  Domini — Cubans 
coenat ;  5 

Huic  de  cruce  virgini — Virgo  voce  Filii— est  com- 
missa. 

Fervens  vicit  oleum, — tonsus  ad  ridiculum, — risit 

flagra. 
Propter    Evangelium, — subiit    exilium, — ferrum, 

vincla. 


ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST,  201 

XXXIII. 

ST.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST. 
DECEMBER  27111. 

LET   our  choir  upon  this  day, — as  they  lift 
_^        their  anthem,  pay, — Christ  due  praises ; 
Day,  when  John  became  a  guest — at  high  heaven's 
supernal  feast — with  his  brethren ; 

Who  for  marvels  by  him  done, — many  and  most 
great,  was  known, — whilst  here  living ; 

Father,  vessel,  marriage-bed — and  himself  he  left, 
instead — Christ  to  follow. 

More  illustrious  than  the  rest — lying  upon  Jesus' 
breast — at  the  supper ;  5 

From  the  Cross  to  this  chaste  one — was  the  Virgin 
by  the  Son — given  over. 

Boiling  oil  he  overcame, — and,  when  shorn  for 
scoff  and  shame, — mocked  their  scourgings ; 

For  the  Gospel's  honour  spent, — banishment  he 
underwent, — torture,  fetters. 


202  &   JOANNES  EVANGELIST  A. 

Virus  fidens  sorbuit, — et  extinctos  eruit : — vir  vita 

refloruit — et  matrona ; 
Aurum  hie  de  frondibus, — gemraas  de  silicibus, — 

fractis  de  fragminibus — fecit  firmas.  10 

Hunc  vocans  visitat  Christus— et  hie  intrat  vivus 

foveam : — petit  aethra. 
Nunc  te,  Christe,  nostra  rogant — vox  et  vota,  ipsi 

socia — nos  per  saecla !    Amen. 


.S7.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  203 

He  through  faith  did  poison  drain, — and  the  dead 
revived  again, — first  restoring  a  young  man, 
— then  a  mother. 

Gold  from  foliage  fashioned  he, — out  of  pebbles 
jewelry, — and  their  fragments  perfectly — 
put  together.  10 

Christ  visits  him  to  call  him  home, — and  he,  alive 

still,   entereth    the   tomb, — thence    seeks 

heaven. 
Now,  Christ !   to  Thee  plead  voice  and  prayer, — 

bring  us  to  be  his  partners  there, — through 

the  ages  !    Amen. 


204  S.  JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 


XXXIV. 

S.  JOANNES   EVANGELISTA. 
xxvii0  DECEMBRIS. 

PR^EFATIO.     Trinitatem    reserat    aquila,    summus 
Evangelista ! 

"T7ELIX  sedes  gratiae, 

JL      Summum  Regem  gloriae 

Videns  mentis  acie 

Non  repulsa !  5 

Johannem  deificat, 
Angelis  parificat, 
Spiritus  qui  indicat 
Coeli  summa. 

Aquae  vivae  salientis  10 

Hie  est  potus  recumbentis 

Supra  pectus  Domini. 
Hie  exfulget  miris  signis, 
Hie  expugnat  vires  ignis 

Et  ferventis  olei.'  15 

Mirantur  nimia 
Tormenti  saevitia, 


S7.   JOHN  7 HE  EVANGELIST.  205 

XXXIV. 

ST.  JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST. 
DECEMBER  27111. 

PREFACE.     John,  the  eagle,  first  of  Evangelists,  the 
Triune  God  revealeth  ! 

BLESSED  resting-place  of  grace  ! 
Who  on  heaven's  great  King  dost  gaze 
With  the  mind's  eye,  face  to  face, 

All  unblinded  !  5 

For  the  Spirit  shows  God's  throne 
To  him,  deifying  John, 
Making  him  with  angels  one, 
Heavenly-minded ! 

Now  the  water,  life  supplying,  10 

As  it  springs  up,  drinks  he,  lying 

On  the  bosom  of  the  Lord  : 
Now  he  shines  with  many  a  wonder, 
Now  the  force  of  fire  keeps  under, 

And  of  hot  oil  round  him  poured.         15 

Wondrous  it  seems  to  be, 
That,  'mid  torture's  agony, 


206  S.  JOANNES  EVANGELISTA. 

Quod  martyr  quis  fiat, 
Et  pcenas  non  sentiat. 

O  martyr  !  O  virgo! — O  custos  Virginis — per  quam 
mundo  gloria,  20 

Ex  quo  sunt,  in  quo  sunt, — per  quem  sunt  omnia, — 
per  te  det  sufiragia ! 

O  dilecte  prae  caeteris, 
Christum,  a  quo  diligeris, 

Interpellans 

Et  exorans,  25 

Nos  ei  concilia. 
Tu  qui  rivus,  due  ad  fontem, 
Tu  qui  collis,  due  ad  montem ; 

Praesta  Sponsum 

Ad  videndum,  30 

Virgo  totus  gratia. 

FINIS.     Sponso  laus  per  saecula ! 


ST.   JOHN  THE  EVANGELIST.  207 

Martyrdom  one  should  gain, 
And  yet  never  feel  the  pain. 

O  martyr  !  O  virgin  !— that  Virgin's  guardian,— who 
did  earth's  chief  Glory  bear  !  20 

From  Whom  is,  in  Whom  is, — through  Whom  is 
everything, — may  He  through  thee  hear  our 
prayer ! 

O  thou,  beloved  above  the  rest ! 

Ask  Christ,  Who  loved  thee  far  the  best, 

To  Him  pressing 

Prayers  addressing,  25 

For  His  reconciling  grace. 
River !  lead  us  to  the  fountain ; 
Hill !  conduct  us  to  the  mountain  ; 

Who  endurest 

Virgin  purest !  30 

Let  us  see  the  Bridegroom's  face. 

CONCLUSION.     To  the  Bridegroom  endless  praise  ! 


208  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

XXXV. 

S.   THOMAS   CANTUARIUS. 
xxix°  DECEMBRIS. 

(~*  AUDE,  Sion,  et  laetare, 
V_T  Voce,  veto  jocundare 

Solemni  Isetitia : 
Tuus  Thomas  trucidatur ; 
Pro  te,  Christe,  immolatur,  5 

Salutaris  hostia. 

Archiprsesul  et  legatus, 
Nullo  tamen  est  elatus 

Honoris  fastigio ; 

Dispensator  summi  Regis,  10 

Pro  tutela  sui  gregis 

Trusus  est  exilio. 

Telo  certans  pastorali, 
Ense  cinctus  Spiritali, 

Triumphare  meruit ;  15 

Hie  pro  Dei  sui  lege, 
Et  pro  suo  raori  grege 

Decertare  studuit. 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.  209 

XXXV. 

ST.  THOMAS   OF  CANTERBURY. 
DECEMBER  29x11. 

JOY,  O  Sion  !  and  rejoice  thou ; 
With  both  vow  and  lifted  voice  now, 
With  a  holy  joy  be  glad  ! 
For  Christ's  sake,  assassinated, 
Is  thy  Thomas  immolated,  5 

A  most  precious  victim  made. 

Primate,  legate,  though  created, 
He  was  ne'er  with  pride  elated 

By  his  honours'  lofty  height ; 
Steward  of  the  King  of  heaven,  10 

He  was  into  exile  driven, 

Since  he  for  his  flock  would  fight. 

With  the  Spirit's  sword  girt  round  him, 
Victory  with  full  triumph  crowned  him, 

As  with  pastoral  spear  he  fought ;          15 
For  his  God's  law  to  be  fighting, 
For  his  flock's  sake  death  inviting, 

Ever  was  his  chiefest  thought. 
p 


2io  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Tune  rectore  desolatam 

Et  pastore  viduatam  20 

Se  plangebat  Canthia ; 
Versa  vice,  plausu  miro, 
Exultavit  tanto  viro 

Senonensis  Gallia. 

Quo  absente,  infirmatur,  25 

Infirmata  conculcatur 

Libertas  Ecclesiae ; 
Sic  nos,  pater,  reliquisti, 
Nee  a  vero  recessisti 

Tramite  justitiae.  30 

Quondam  coetu  curiali 
Primus  eras  et  regali 

Militans  palatio ; 
Plebis  aura  favorali 
Et,  ut  mos  est,  temporali  35 

Plaudebas  praconio. 

Consequenter  es  mutatus : 
Prsesulatu  sublimatus, 
Novus  homo  reparatus 

Felici  commercio,  40 

Ex  adverse  ascendisti, 
Et  te  murum  objecisti : 
Caput  tuum  obtulisti, 

Christ!  sacrificio. 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.  21 1 

Losing  then  its  guide  and  master, 

And  deprived  thus  of  its  pastor,  20 

Canterbury  deeply  grieved ; 
But  then  one,  so  justly  noted, 
Sens  in  France,  with  joy  devoted, 

And  with  glad  acclaim  received. 

In  his  absence  sore  prostrated,  25 

And,  when  prostrate,  violated, 

Was  the  Church  no  longer  free ; 
So  from  'mongst  us  thou  departedst, 
Father  !  but  aside  ne'er  startedst 

From  the  path  of  probity.  30 

Once,  amid  the  courtier  bevy, 
Thou  wast  foremost  of  the  levy 

In  the  palace  of  the  king ; 
All  the  people  approbation, 
And  the  world  loud  acclamation,  35 

As  its  wont  is,  offering. 

Well-timed  was  thy  transformation  ; 
For  of  thee  thy  consecration 
By  a  blest  reciprocation 

Made  a  new  man  happily :  40 

Thou  thine  opposition  endedst, 
As  a  wall,  the  Church  defendedst, 
And  thyself  to  death  commendedst, 

Willing  thus  for  Christ  to  die. 


212  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Carnis  tuae  morte  spreta,  45 

Triumphalis  es  athleta  ; 
Palma  tibi  datur  laeta, 
Quod  testantur  insueta 

Plurima  miracula. 

Per  te  visus  caecis  datur,  50 

Claudis  gressus  instauratur, 
Paralysis  effugatur, 
Vetus  hostis  propulsatur 

Et  peccati  macula. 

Cleri  gemma,  clare  Thoma,  55 

Motus  carnis  nostrae  doma 

Precum  efficacia, 
Ut,  in  Christo  vera  vite 
Radicati,  vera  vitse 

Capiamus  gaudia.     Amen.  60 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.  213 

Champion  !  who  this  life  disdainest !  45 

Victory  in  the  fight  thou  gainest, 
And  the  joyful  palm  obtainest ; 
Evidence  of  which  the  plainest 

All  thy  wonders  rare  afford. 
To  the  blind  their  sight  thou  givest,  50 

And  the  lame  man's  powers  revivest ; 
Thou  paralysis  relievest, 
And  the  old  foe  backward  drivest, 

And  transgressions'  filthy  horde. 

Gem  of  priesthood,  princely  Thomas  !  5  5 

By  thy  prayer  effectual  from  us 

Take  our  lusts,  our  flesh  subdue  ; 
That,  in  Christ,  the  true  Vine,  rooted, 
We  may  gain,  thus  constituted,  59 

Life-joys  both  divine  and  true  !    Amen. 


214  £    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

XXXVI. 

S.  THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 
xxix°  DECEMBRIS. 

PIA  mater  plangat  Ecclesia 
Quod  patravit  major  Britannia 
Factum  detestabile; 
Pietate  movetur  Francia ; 
Fugit  coelum,  tellus  et  maria  5 

Scelus  exsecrabile  ! 

Scelus,  inquam,  non  dicendum  : 
Grande  scelus  et  horrendum 

Perpetravit  Anglia. 

Patrem  suum  praedamnavit,  10 

Et  in  sede  trucidavit 

Restitutum  propria. 

Thomas  totius  Angliae 
Flos  vernans,  et  Ecclesise 

Specialis  gloria,  15 

In  templo  Cantuariae 
Pro  legibus  justitiae 

Fit  sacerdos  et  hostia. 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.         215 

XXXVI. 

ST.  THOMAS  OF   CANTERBURY. 
DECEMBER  29x11. 

NOW  let  our  holy  Mother-Church  bemoan 
What  was  aforetime  by  Great  Britain  4one  ; 
'Twas  a  deed  detestable  : 
By  pious  feelings  France  is  deeply  stirred, 
And  in  all  horror  from  the  guilt  abhorred  5 

Flee  heaven  and  earth  and  seas  as  well ! 

Ah  !  a  crime  beyond  all  telling, 
One  most  hateful  and  repelling, 

Was  at  England's  hands  then  done  : 
She  prejudged  her  father,  newly  10 

To  his  home  restored,  and  foully 

Murdered  him  upon  his  throne. 

Thomas,  all  England's  brightest  flower, 
The  glory  of  the  church,  before 

All  others  in  exalted  fame,  15 

At  Canterbury's  temple  door, 
The  laws  of  justice  to  secure, 

Both  sacrifice  and  priest  became. 


216  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Inter  templum  et  altare, 

Templi  super  liminare  20 

Concutitur,  non  frangitur; 
Sed  gladiis  conscinditur 

Velum  templi  medium. 

Eliseus  decalvatur, 

Zacharias  trucidatur;  25 

Pax  tradita  dissolvitur 
Et  organum  convertitur 

In  lamentum  flentium. 


Prope  festum  Innocentum 

Innocentur  ad  tormentum  30 

Pertrahitur,  concutitur, 
Et  cerebrum  effunditur 

Cuspide  mucronis. 

Ad  decoris  ornamentum 

Templi  rubet  pavimentum,  35 

Quod  sanguine  respergitur, 
Dum  sacerdos  induitur 
Veste  passionis. 

Furor  ingens  debacchatur, 

Sanguis  Justus  condemnatur,  40 

Ense  caput  dissecatur 

In  conspectu  Domini : 


.ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.          217 

'Twixt  the  temple  and  the  altar, 

On  the  threshold,  each  assaulter  20 

Doth  rudely  shake,  but  breaks  him  not ; 
Though  with  their  swords  in  twain  they  cut 
In  its  midst  the  temple  veil. 

Low  Elisha's  bald  head  lieth, 

Zacharias,  slaughtered,  dieth  ;  25 

Peace,  thus  betrayed,  dissolves  away, 
And  the  sweet  organ  now  can  play 

But  the  tearful  mourners'  wail. 


Upon  Childermas's  morrow 

Is  this  Innocent  to  sorrow  30 

Dragged  forth,  and  blows,  and  tortures'  pain ; 
Whilst,  on  the  earth  outpoured,  his  brain, 
Lo  !  the  sword's  point  bareth. 

As  that  temple's  chiefest  glory, 

Blushes  still  its  pavement  gory,  35 

Which  is  o'ersprinkled  with  his  blood, 
As  there  this  holy  priest  of  God 
Robes  of  passion  weareth. 


Rages  wrath,  with  fury  fevered, 
Just  blood  is  to  death  delivered ;  40 

With  a  sword  his  head  is  shivered 
In  the  presence  of  the  Lord : 


218  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Cum  sacrabat,  hie  sacratur, 
Immolator  iramolatur, 
Ut  virtutis  relinquatur  45 

Hoc  exemplum  homini. 

Holocaustum  medullatum, 
Jam  per  orbem  propalatum, 
In  odorem  Deo  gratum 

Est  pontifex  oblatus ;  50 

Pro  corona  quae  secatur 
Duplex  stola  praeparatur, 
Ubi  sedes  restauratur 

Archiepiscopatus. 

Synagoga  derogat,  ridet  Paganismus,  55 

Insultant  idolatrae,  quod  Christianismus 

Foedus  violaverit 

Nee  patri  pepercerit 
Christianitatis. 

Rachel  plorat  filium,  non  vult  consolari,       60 
Quam  in  matris  utero  vidit  trucidari ; 

Super  cujus  obitum 

Dant  in  fletu  gemitum 
Mentes  pietatis. 

Hie  est  ille  pontifex  65 

Quern  supernus  Artifex 
In  coslorum  culmine 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.          219 

Consecrating,  consecrated, 
Immolating,  immolated, 
He  to  man  a  celebrated  45 

Type  of  virtue  doth  afford. 

Holocaust,  with  marrow  welling, 
Known  to  earth's  remotest  dwelling, 
Sacrifice  to  God  sweet-smelling, 

This  pontiff  was  selected ;  50 

For  a  crown  that  may  be  riven 
Two-fold  robes  to  him  are  given 
On  his  primate's  throne,  in  heaven 

Restored  and  re-erected. 

Jews  depreciate  our  fame,  Pagans  show  derision,  55 
Such  as  worship  idols  scoff,  that  our  own  religion 

Should  to  break  its  pledge  have  dared, 

Neither  have  that  father  spared, 

Over  Christians  reigning,  59 

Rachel  weepeth  for  that  son,  nor  finds  consolation, 
Who  thus  in  his  mother's  womb  meets  assassination  ; 

Over  whose  untimely  end 

Holy  hearts  their  tears  expend, 
Bitterly  complaining. 

This  man  is  that  pontiff  bright,  65 

Whom  on  heaven's  supremest  height 
Its  supernal  maker,  God, 


220  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Magnum  stabilivit, 
Postquam  pertransivit 

Gladios  Anglorum.  70 

Cum  mori  non  timuit, 
Sed  cervicem  praebuit 
In  suo  sanguine  j 
Ut  abhinc  exivit, 

Semel  introivit  75 

In  sancta  sanctorum. 

Cujus  mortem  pretiosam  testantur  miracula, 
Christe,  nobis  suffragetur  per  seterna  ssecula  ! 


ST.  THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.  221 

Stablished  in  great  glory, 
When  with  swords  all-gory 

England's  swordsmen  smite  him.       70 

Since  of  death  he  felt  no  dread, 
But  surrendered  up  his  head 
To  welter  in  his  blood, 
When  he  hence  was  driven 
God  to  highest  heaven  75 

Did  at  once  admit  him. 

Of  his  death  indeed  most  precious  mighty  wonders 

testify ; 
Jesu  !  may  he  recommend  us  unto  Thee  eternally  ! 


S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 


XXXVII. 
S.   THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

xxix°  DECEMBRIS. 

AQUAS  plenas  amaritudine 
Novi  sails  nova  dulcedine, 
Ollam  plenam  lethali  gramine 
Novi  farris  sanat  pinguedine 

Eliseus ;  5 

Novus  vervex  pro  grege  moritur, 
Et  pro  matre  proles  occiditur ; 
In  obscuris  sol  novus  oritur, 
In  quo  serus  annus  promittitur 

Jubilseus.  10 

Abel  novum  Cayn  malitia, 
Novum  Jacob  Seir  saevitia, 
Novum  Joseph  fratrum  invidia 
Intercepit  fraude  nefarii 

His  diebus.  15 

Surrexerunt  in  patrem  pueri, 
Non  materno  parcentes  uberi ; 
Thomas  praesul  dum  datur  funeri, 
Novum  chaos  videtur  ingeri 

Mundi  rebus.  20 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.          223 


XXXVII. 

ST.  THOMAS    OF   CANTERBURY. 
DECEMBER  29x11. 

ANEW  Elisha  bitter  waters  heals 
With  such  new  sweetness  as  new  salt  reveals ; 
The  pot  too,  which  a  herb  most  deadly  fills, 
He  renders  harmless  by  the  fat  of  meal's 

New  remedy.  5 

Lo  !  for  the  flock  another  wether  dies, 
And,  for  the  mother  slain,  the  offspring  lies  : 
To  light  our  darkness  a  new  sun  doth  rise, 
Which  the  long  promised  year  to  all  supplies 

Of  Jubilee.  10 

'Gainst  a  new  Abel  doth  Cain's  malice  fight ; 
Seir's  fierceness  'gainst  another  Jacob's  right ; 
Another  Joseph  hath  his  brethren's  spite, 
Seizing  with  wicked  fraud,  put  out  of  sight 

In  these  last  days.  15 

Sons  'gainst  their  fathers  to  rebel  have  dared, 
Not  having  e'en  their  mother's  bosom  spared  : 
As  Bishop  Thomas  to  his  death  is  snared, 
Lo  !  a  new  chaos,  for  all  earth  prepared, 

The  eye  surveys.  20 


224  •&    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Sed  occumbit  Abel  in  gloria, 
Jacob  servat  Mesopotamia, 
Joseph  regnat  in  aula  regia, 
Thomas  noster  in  coeli  curia" 

Coronatur.  25 

Renovantur  Anglorum  gaudia, 
Bethel  novus  fit  Dorovernia, 
Fit  piscina  propitiaria, 
In  qua  jugis  et  multifaria 

Salus  datur.  30 

Dilatatur  Jordanis  fluvius, 
Fit  Naaman  alter  et  tertius, 
Derivatur  Siloe  longius, 
Coelum  pluit  manna  profusius 

Quam  solebat.  35 

Duplicatur  Solaris  radius ; 
Magnus  Annae  donatur  films, 
Novum  vatem  Herodis  gladius 
Trucidavit  inverecundius 

Quam  decebat.  40 

Trucidato  non  desunt  prsemia ; 
Sancto  namque  pro  sanctimonia, 
Pro  sincerae  mentis  constantia, 
Vita,  salus  et  lux  aetherea 

Condonatur.  45 


ST.    THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.          225 

But  Abel  covered  with  great  glory  falls ; 
Haran  saves  Jacob,  when  for  help  he  calls ; 
Joseph  bears  rule  within  a  monarch's  walls ; 
Our  Thomas  too  is  crowned  in  the  bright  halls 

Of  highest  heaven.  25 

All  Englishmen,  their  joys  renewed,  are  glad, 
And  Canterbury,  new  Bethesda  made, 
Becomes  a  pool,  the  sinful  soul  to  aid, 
Whence  at  all  times  to  all  around  it  laid 

Salvation's  given.  30 

The  river  Jordan  wider  tracts  streams  o'er ; 
Another  and  third  Naaman  seeks  its  shore ; 
Siloam's  pool  spreads  further  than  before, 
Whilst  heaven  far  more  profusely  than  of  yore 

Doth  manna  rain.  35 

The  sun's  rays  are  with  double  power  outpoured ; 
A  mighty  son  to  Hannah  is  secured ; 
Another  prophet  Herod's  ruthless  sword 
With  shamelessness  yet  more  to  be  abhorred 

Hath  foully  slain.  40 

But,  slaughtered  thus,  a  full  reward  hath  he ; 
For  to  the  saint  for  his  great  sanctity, 
And  his  pure  heart's  untiring  constancy, 
Salvation,  life,  and  light  most  heavenly, 

Is  freely  given.  45 

Q 


226  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Abhinc  multa  facit  prodigia : 
Lepram  curat,  fugat  daemonia ; 
Caecis  visum,  claudis  vestigia, 
Verba  mutis,  segris  remedia 

Imprecatur.  50 

Vir  Belial  luit  blasphemias, 
Quas  in  sanctum  arsit  injurias ; 
Visu  dempto,  tristes  exsequias 
Maturando  nefandas  furias 

Terminavit.  55 

Vir  devotus  in  sanctum  Domini, 
Zelo  pravo  sustractus  lumini, 
Sed  mox  datus  visus  acumini, 
Laudes  laetus  divino  nomini 

Decantavit.  60 


Cruces,  factae  manu  angelica, 
Pii  patris  prece  benefica, 
Crebro  pollent  virtute  coelica ; 
Far  fit  humi  quod  paralytica 

Membra  sanat.  6 

Immolentur  lucernae  geminae, 
Accenduntur  coelesti  lumine ; 
Declaratur  in  vasis  fragmine 
Locum  sanctum  fraudis  molimine 

Qui  profanat.  70 


ST.  THOMAS  OF  CANTERBURY.  227 

Henceforth  he  works  unnumbered  prodigies  ; 
Lepers  are  cleansed,  the  devil's  legion  flies ; 
Strength  for  the  lame,  and  sight  for  blinded  eyes, 
Speech  for  the  dumb,  for  sick  folk  remedies, 

He  asks  of  heaven.  50 

A  son  of  Belial  blasphemies  he  swore, 
Burning  the  saint  to  harm,  atoneth  for ; 
The  loss  of  sight  and  death  did  he  incur, 
An  early  death,  which  stopped  for  evermore 

His  wrath's  fierce  stream.  55 

A  man,  who  in  the  Lord's  saint  took  delight, 
And  had  his  eyes  put  out  by  bigot  spite, 
But  soon  again  recovered  perfect  sight, 
Sang  constant  praises  with  rejoicing  bright 

To  God's  great  name.  60 

Crosses,  which  were  by  angel  fingers  made, 
When  kindly  prayers  this  pious  father  prayed, 
Through  heavenly  virtue  oft  great  power  displayed ; 
And  grain,  that  heals  the  limbs  with  palsy  dead, 

On  earth  is  grown.  65 

An  offering  of  two  lamps  was  made,  which  same 
Are  lighted  up  by  a  celestial  flame  : 
The  broken  fragments  of  a  vase  proclaim 
Who  hath  to  some  blest  shrine  by  fraudful  scheme 

Dishonour  done.  70 


228  S.    THOMAS  CANTUARIUS. 

Calce  puer  qui  matrem  Iseserat 
Poenitendo  calcem  absciderat ; 
Mox,  ut  opem  sancti  petierat, 
Bipedalem  gressum  meruerat, 

Res  stupenda  !  75 

Nauta  potens  in  navi  mystica, 
Nostra,  Thoma,  laudes  et  cantica 
Summo  Regi  prece  gratifica 
Et  eidem  prece  magnifica 

Nos  commenda.     Amen.       80 


ST.    THOMAS  OF   CANTERBURY.          229 

A  lad,  who  with  his  foot  his  mother  lamed, 
Cut  off  that  foot  to  show  himself  ashamed  ; 
Soon,  when  he  had  this  saint's  assistance  claimed, 
He  walked  upon  two  feet,  as  if  ne'er  maimed, 

A  wonder  rare  !  7  5 

O  seaman,  who  in  mystic  ship  bear'st  sway  ! 
Our  joyful  praises  and  this  grateful  lay 
To  the  great  King  in  kindly  prayer  to-day, 
Thomas  !  commend,  and  us  to  Him,  we  pray, 

In  potent  prayer  !    Amen.  80 


230  S.    GENOVEFA. 

XXXVIII. 

S.   GENOVEFA. 
iii°  JANUARII. 

f~*  ENOVEF^E  solemnitas 
y^Jf     Solemne  parit  gaudium ; 
Cordis  erumpat  puritas 
In  laudis  sacrificium  ! 

Felix  ortus  infantulae,  5 

Teste  Germane  praesule : 
Quod  praevidit  in  spiritu, 
Rerum  probatur  exitu. 

Hie  ad  pectus  virgineum, 

Pro  pudoris  signaculo,  10 

Nummum  suspendit  aeneum, 

Crucis  insignem  titulo. 

Genovefam  divinitus 

Oblato  dotat  munere, 
In  templum  Sancti  Spiritus  15 

Sub  Christi  dicans  foedere. 


.ST.    GENEVIEVE.  231 

XXXVIII. 

ST.   GENEVIEVE. 
JANUARY  3RD. 

ENEVIEVE  a  holy  mirth 
V_T     Brings  forth  upon  her  holy  day ; 
Then  let  the  chastened  heart  break  forth, 
The  sacrifice  of  praise  to  pay  ! 

Blest  was  that  infant's  birth  of  yore,  5 

As  Bishop  Germain  witness  bore, 
And  what  in  spirit  he  foreknew 
The  issue  of  events  proves  true. 

Upon  the  virgin's  bosom  laid, 

To  mark  her  spotless  chastity,  10 

A  medal,  that  of  bronze  was  made, 

Stamped  with  a  cross  suspendeth  he. 

Genevieve  he  then  endows 

With  gifts  that  heaven-sent  power  can  boast, 
And  consecrates  through  Christian  vows      15 

A  temple  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 


232  J.    GENOVEFA. 

Insontem  manu  feriens, 

Mater  privatur  lumine ; 
Matri  virgo  compatiens 

Lucis  dat  usum  pristinse.  20 

Genovefa  magnanimis 

Carnem  frangit  jejunio, 
Terramque  rigans  lacrymis, 

Jugi  gaudet  martyrio. 

Coelesti  duce  prsevio,  25 

Coelos  lustrat  et  tartara, 
Civesque  precum  studio 

Servat  a  gente  barbara. 

Divino  diu  munere 

Sitim  levat  artificum ;  30 

Confractum  casu  miserae 

Matri  resignat  unicum. 

Ad  primam  precem  virginis 
Contremiscunt  daemonia ; 

Pax  datur  energuminis,  35 

Spes  aegris,  reis  venia. 

In  ejus  manus  cerei 

Reaccenduntur  coelitus ; 
Per  hanc  in  sinus  alvei 

Redit  amnis  coercitus.  40 


ST.  GENEVIEVE.  233 

For  striking  at  the  guileless  maid 

Her  mother's  eyes  lose  all  their  light ; 

The  virgin,  for  her  mother  sad, 

Restores  to  them  their  former  sight.          20 

Genevieve,  the  great- souled,  wears 

Her  fleshly  frame  by  fasts  away, 
And  joys,  bedewing  earth  with  tears, 

In  martyrdom  from  day  to  day. 

'Neath  angel  guidance  she  surveys  25 

The  heavens  above  and  hell  below ; 

And  saves,  so  fervently  she  prays, 
The  people  from  a  barbarous  foe. 

Long  doth  she  with  unearthly  power 

Some  workmen's  thirst  alleviate ;  30 

And  at  a  mother's  tears  restore 
Her  only  son,  struck  down  by  fate. 

At  the  pure  maiden's  earliest  prayer 
Trembles  and  quakes  all  Satan's  race  ; 

While  rest  and  peace  demoniacs  share,         35 
The  sickly  hope,  the  guilty  grace. 

Some  waxen  tapers  in  her  hand 

With  heaven-sent  flame  are  made  to  burn  ; 
Its  waters  too  at  her  command 

Back  to  a  river's  bed  return.  40 


234  S.    GENOVEFA. 

Ignem  sacrum  refrigerat, 

Post  mortem  vivens  meritis, 
Quae  prius  in  se  vicerat 
intern!  fomitis. 


Morti,  morbis,  daemonibus,  45 

Et  elementis  imperat  : 
Sic  Genovefa  precibus 

Naturae  leges  superat. 

Operatur  in  parvulis 

Christi  virtus  magnalia  :  50 

Christo,  pro  tot  miraculis, 

La  us  frequens,  jugis  gloria  !     Amen. 


ST.    GENEVIEVE.  235 

She  by  her  merits, — living  still 

When  dead, — cools  down  "the  Ardents"'  fire, 
Who  in  herself  before  could  quell 

The  flames  within  of  hot  desire. 

Disease,  death,  powers  of  the  air,  45 

And  elements,  all  own  her  sway ; 
So  Genevieve  by  force  of  prayer 

Makes  Nature's  laws  her  will  obey. 

In  very  babes  Christ's  power  alone 

Works  mighty  deeds  effectually :  50 

To  Christ  for  such  great  wonders  done 

All  praise  and  endless  glory  be !    Amen. 


236  S.  AGNES. 


XXXIX. 

S.  AGNES. 
xxi°  JANUARII. 

A  NIMEMUR  ad  agonem, 
JT\.  Recolentes  passionem 

Gloriosae  virginis : 
Contrectantes  sacrum  florem, 
Respiremus  ad  odorem  5 

Respersse  dulcedinis. 

Pulchra,  prudens  et  illustris, 
Jam  duobus  Agnes  lustris 

Addebat  triennium : 

Proles  amat  hanc  praefecti,  10 

Sed  ad  ejus  virgo  flecti 

Respuit  arbitrium. 

Mira  vis  fidei, 

Mira  virginitas, 
Mira  virginei  1 5 

Cordis  integritas ! 


AGNES.  237 


XXXIX. 

ST.   AGNES. 
JANUARY    21  ST. 

AS  we  tell  once  more  the  fashion 
Of  this  glorious  virgin's  passion, 
Be  we  kindled  to  the  fight  : 
As  we  touch  the  sacred  flower, 
Let  us  breathe  the  scents  that  shower  5 

From  its  sweetness'  full  delight  ! 

Beautiful  and  wise  and  noble, 
Agnes  now  had  to  the  double 

Of  five  years  an  added  three  : 
Much  the  prefect's  first-born  loves  her,         10 
But  to  maiden  scorn  he  moves  her, 

Not  submission  to  his  plea. 

Wonderful  power  of  faith, 

Wondrous  virginity, 
Wonderful  virtue  hath  15 

Virgin  hearts'  constancy  ! 


238  S.  AGNES. 

Sic  Dei  Filius, 

Nutu  mirabili, 
Se  mirabilius 

Prodit  in  fragili.  20 

Languet  amans,  cubat  lecto, 
Languor  notus  fit  praefecto ; 

Maturat  remedia. 
Offert  multa,  spondet  plura, 
Periturus  peritura,  25 

Sed  vilescunt  omnia. 

Nudam  prostituit 

Prseses  flagitiis, 
Quam  Christus  induit 

Comarum  fimbriis  30 

Stolaque  ccelesti. 
Coelestis  nuntius 
Assistit  propius ; 
Cella  libidinis 

Fit  locus  luminis :  35 

Turbantur  incesti. 

Caecus  amans  indignatur, 
Et  irrumpens  prsefocatur 

A  maligno  spiritu. 

Luget  pater,  lugent  cuncti,  40 

Roma  flevit  pro  defuncti 

Juvenis  interitu. 


ST.  AGNES.  239 

So  did  the  Son  of  God 

Come  of  His  wondrous  will, 

And  in  frail  flesh  abode ; 

Which  is  more  wondrous  still !          20 

Sick,  to  bed  the  lover  goeth  : 
When  the  cause  the  prefect  knoweth, 

Quickly  seeks  he  for  a  cure  : 
Much  now,  vowing  more,  he  proffers, — 
Short-lived  offerer,  short-lived  offers  ! —  25 

But  his  gifts  are  all  too  poor. 

Her  doth  the  prefect,  bare, 

To  outrage  vile  expose, 
But  a  thick  fringe  of  hair 

Christ  round  her  body  throws,  30 

And  a  robe  heaven-whitened. 
One  of  the  angel-race 
Beside  her  takes  his  place ; 
The  den  of  lust  that  night 
Becomes  the  abode  of  light,  35 

And  the  lewd  are  frightened. 

Her  blind  lover,  most  indignant, 
Rushes  in,  and  a  malignant 

Spirit  robs  him  of  life-breath. 
Weeps  his  father,  all  are  crying,  40 

Rome  bewailed  a  young  man  dying 

By  so  terrible  a  death. 


240  5.  AGNES. 


Suscitatur  ab  Agnete ; 
Turba  fremit  indiscrete; 

Rogum  parant  virgini :  45 

Rogus  ardens  reos  urit, 
In  furentes  flamma  furit, 

Dans  honorem  numini. 

Grates  agens  Salvatori, 

Guttur  offert  haec  lictori ;  50 

Nee  ad  horam  timet  mori, 

Puritatis  conscia. 
Agnes,  Agni  salutaris 
Stans  ad  dextram  gloriaris, 
Et  parentes  consolaris,  55 

Invitans  ad  gaudia. 

Ne  te  flerent  ut  defunctam, 

Jam  coelesti  Sponso  junctam, 

His,  sub  agni  forma,  suam 

Revelavit  atque  tuam  60 

Virginalem  gloriam ; 
Nos  ab  Agno  salutari 
Non  permitte  separari, 
Cui  te  totam  consecrasti, 
Cujus  ope  tu  curasti  65 

Nobilem  Constantiam. 

Vas  electum,  vas  honoris, 
Incorrupti  flos  odoris, 


ST.   AGNES.  241 

He  is  raised  by  Agnes'  pleading ; 

But  the  crowd, — blind  rage  misleading  ! — 

For  the  maid  prepare  the  stake  :  45 

Its  bright  blaze  the  guilty  burneth ; 
'Gainst  the  fierce  the  fierce  flame  turneth 

For  the  Most  High's  honour's  sake. 

To  the  Saviour  thanks  she  proffers, 

To  the  lictor  her  throat  offers ;  50 

Neither  fears  she  when  she  suffers, 

Conscious  of  her  purity. 
Agnes  !  thou,  thy  crown  receiving, 
At  the  saving  Lamb's  side  living, 
Comfort  to  thy  parents  giving,  55 

Bidd'st  them  mount  to  joys  on  high  ! 

Lest  they  mourn,  as  dead  and  buried, 

One,  to  Spouse  divine  now  married, 

In  a  lamb's  shape,  Christ  the  story 

Of  His  own  and  of  thy  glory  60 

Set  before  them,  spotless  maid ! 
Suffer  not  our  separation 
From  that  Lamb,  our  One  salvation ; 
Unto  Whom  devoted  wholly, 
Thou  didst  noble  Constance  throughly        65 

Heal  of  sickness  by  His  aid. 

Vessel,  glorious  and  elected  ! 
Flower,  with  scent  by  naught  affected  ! 
R 


242  S.   AGNES. 


Angelorum  grata  choris, 

Honestatis  et  pudoris  70 

Forman  praebes  sseculo. 
Palma  fruens  triumphali, 
Flore  vernans  virginal!, 
Nos  indignos  speciali, 
Fac  sanctorum  general!  75 

Vel  subscribi  titulo.    Amen. 


ST.  AGNES.  243 

By  the  angelic  choirs  respected  ! 

Thou  art  as  the  type  erected  70 

Of  a  maiden's  spotless  fame. 
Off  the  palm  of  victory  bearing, 
Still  thy  virgin  blossom  wearing, 
Grant  we  may,  unfit  appearing 
For  a  special  title,  share  in,  75 

With  the  saints,  their  general  name !  Amen. 


NOTES. 


NOTES. 

* 

SEQUENCE  I. 

I.  "  Christus  natus  non  est  per  conditionem  sed  per  potes- 
tatem." — August.  "  De  Trinit. "  iii.  26. 

7.  "So  in  the  Greek  Anthology,  6  axwpjjroc  xwf°^ra'-" — • 
Trench,  ad  loc.,  "Sacred  Latin  Poetry,"  3rd  edit. 
p.  113. 

19-20.  Cf.  Luke,  ii.  10,  13 ;  Matth.  iv.  II  ;  Luke  xxii.  43  ; 
Matth,  xxviii.  2. 

31,  32.  Cf.  Matth.  xxvii.  34;  Ps.  Ixix.  21. 

33-36.  Cf.  Adam's  Sequence  on  the  Circumcision,  page  46 
in  this  volume,  where  he  enlarges  on  the  good  Samaritan 
as  the  type  of  Christ,  lines  7-14. 

37  et  ss.  Cf.  2  Kings  iv.  7-37  ;  and  on  Elisha  as  a  type  of 
Christ,  Bernard,  "In  Cant.  Serm.  15,  16." 

41.  The  "Giants"  of  Gen.  vi.  4,  according  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  early  Church,  Gemince  mbstantice ;  the 
"sons  of  God"  who  begat  them,  (ver.  2,)  being  angels, 
who  formed  unions  with  the  "daughters  of  men."  Cf. 
Ps.  xix.  5,  Trench.  The  application  of  this  to  our 
Lord  as  God  and  man  is  obvious,  and  is  used  more  than 
once  by  St.  Ambrose.  Cf.  his  hymn,  "  Veni,  Redemptor 
gentium." 

45.  Money  vol.  ii.,  page  86,  reads  "Vicit." 


248  NOTES. 

47,  48.  "There  is  allusion  here  to  that  interpretation  of  the 
parable  of  the  pieces  of  silver  (Luke  xv.  8-10)  which 
makes  the  nine  which  were  not  lost  to  be  the  nine  ranks 
of  angels  who  stood  in  their  first  obedience,  and  the  one 
lost  to  be  the  race  of  mankind." — Trench,  ad  loc. 

49.  Meta  Vatum.  "Because  with  Christ's  birth  the  prophets 
of  the  O.  T.  ceased." — Monet  "Hymni  Lat.  Med. 
/Evi,"  vol.  ii.  p.  87. 


SEQUENCE  II. 

I,  2.  Cf.  Luke  ii.  13,  14:  "And  suddenly  there  was  with 
the  angels  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host,  praising 
God,  and  saying,  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth 
peace,  goodwill  towards  men  ! ' " 

ii,  12.  Cf.  Hebrews  iv.  15:  "For  we  have  not  an  High- 
Priest,  which  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 
infirmities  ;  but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin." 

17.  Vid.  note  on  Sequence  Ixxiv.  45-47.     Cf.  Daniel  ii.  34. 

20,  22.  Cf.  Isaiah  vii.  14  ;  Matth.  i.  18,  22,  23  ;  Luke  i.  27. 

25.  Cf.  Isaiah  xi.  i,  2;  Romans  xv.  12:  "The  stem  is 
the  Virgin,  the  flower  Jesus.  One  can  refer  to  numberless 
'  Jesse  Trees '  which  have  been  carved  over  the  doorways 
and  on  the  walls  of  our  cathedrals.  Liturgical  poetry 
often  took  its  inspiration  from  the  passage  in  Isaiah.  A 
response  in  verse  by  Fulbert  de  Chartres,  music  for 
which  was  composed  by  the  pious  King  Robert,  was 
especially  popular  in  the  middle  ages. 

'  Stirps  Jesse  virgam  produxit  virgaque  florem, 
Et  super  hunc  florem  requiescit  spiritus  almus, 
Virgo  Dei  genetrix  virga  est,  flos  Filius  ejus, 
Et  super  hunc  florem  requiescit  spiritus  almus.'  " 

Gautier,  ad  loc. 


NOTES.  249 

SEQUENCE  III. 

51.  Gautier  says  here,  "Aaron's  rod  that  blossomed  is  the 
emblem  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  bore  a  child  without 
losing  her  virginity,  and  gave  to  the  world  that  Jesus 
jureflori  comparatus. " 

$2.  "  The  fleece  of  Gideon,  which,  on  a  soil  perfectly  dry, 
was  saturated  with  dew,  is  the  type  of  Mary,  who  be- 
came a  mother  without  experience  of  carnal  intercourse." 
— Gautier,  ad  loc. 

59.  Stella  Marts  is  the  exact  translation  of  the  name  of  Mary 
according  to  St.  Jerome. 

SEQUENCE  IV. 

I,  2,  3.  Cf.  Luke  i.  79  :     "To  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in 

darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death." 

SEQUENCE  V. 

II,  12.   "The  Virgin  Mary  had  no  model  in  the  past,  ex- 
emplar ;  nor  can  she  in  the  future  find  a  faithful  likeness, 
exemplum : 

Gaudia  Matris  habens  .cum  virginitatis  honore, 
Nee  primam  similem  visa  est  nee  habere  sequentem. " 
Sedulius,  "  Carmen  Paschale,"  ii.  67,  68. 
Gautier,  ad  loc. 

Vid.   also  the    "Great    Antiphon"    in  the    Sarum 
Breviary  for  December  23rd,  "  O  Virgo  Virginum." 
14.  Cf.  Genesis  iii.  2. 

SEQUENCE  VI. 

7-12.  "  Nothing  is  more  common  in  liturgical  poetry  than 
the  comparison  of  Eve  with  Mary,  The  New  Eve" — 
Gautier,  ad  loc. 

It  begins  very  early  indeed,  being  found  in  St.  Irtnaus, 
"Adv.  Hser,"  v.  19. 

17-22.  Cf.  Psalm  xix.  5,  and  note  on  Sequence  i.  line  41 
ante. 


250  NOTES. 

SEQUENCE  VII. 

29,  30.  Cf.  Numbers  xvii.  8. 

32.  Cf.  Judges  vi.  37  et  seq. 

45-53.  "  These  three  stanzas  are  devoted  to  the  double  sym- 
bolism of  the  almond  or  the  nut.  The  nut  is  first  in  itself 
the  representation  of  Jesus  Christ ;  its  bitter  hull  is  the 
anguish  of  the  cross  circa  carnem  ;  the  shell  of  the  nut  is 
the  body  of  our  Lord,  and  the  fruit  the  Godhead  clothed 
with  flesh,  the  sweetness  of  Christ.  By  its  properties 
moreover  the  nut  is  the  representation  of  Christ ;  it 
offers  us  three  benefits,  unction,  light,  nourishment. 
Is  not  Christ  the  light  of  the  blind,  the  unction  of  the 
sick,  the  food  of  the  faithful  in  the  Eucharist?" — 
Gaitticr,  ad  loc. 

SEQUENCE  VIII. 
5,  6.  Cf.  Luke  xv.  8.     "  The  lost  piece  of  silver"  symbolizes 

man  after  the  fall.    "The  lighted  candle"  Christ,  the 

light  of  the  world,  sent  to  seek  "that  which  was  lost." 
7-14.  Cf.  Luke  x.  3037.     The  good  Samaritan  symbolizes 

Christ  ;  the  man  that  fell  among  thieves  mankind  ;  the 

oil  and  wine  the  sacraments ;  the  two  pence  the  two 

testaments. 

15,  1 6.  Cf.  Judges  vi.  37  et  seq. 
1 8,  26.  A  reference  to  the  symbolic  character  of  the  number 

eight,  which  makes  it  so  often  the  sign  of  finality  :  that 

finality  being  a  complete  restoration  and  happy  summing 

up  of  all. 
The  hymnist  asks  in  lines  25,  26,  that  he  and  others 

may  have  their  share  in  the  blessings  of  that  completing 

age  and  epoch  of  the  church. 

SEQUENCE  IX. 
II.  Cf.  I  Cor.  xi.  3:     "The  head  of  every  man  is  Christ." 


NOTES.  251 

12.  Cf.  I  Cor.  vi.  15,  and  xii.  27  :     "  Now  ye  are  the  body 
of  Christ,  and  members  in  particular." 

13.  Cf.  I  Cor.  v.  7:     "Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for 
us." 

1 6.  Cf.  I  Peter  v.  8,  Vulgate,  "  Adversarius  noster,  tanquam 
leo  rugiens,  circuit,  quserens  quern  devoret." 

1 8,  19.  Cf.  Judges  xiv.  6. 

20-23.  Cf.  I  Sam.  xvii.  34-36.  Fortibus  manibus  is  the 
translation  of  the  word  "David." 

27.  Sol eorum.  "This  etymology  of  Samson's  name  is  de- 
rived from  Jerome,  who  ('De  Nom.  Heb.')  explains 
Samson  :  '  Sol  eorum,  vel  soils  fortitude, — their  light,  or 
the  light  of  them  that  are  His.'  ....  They  may 
have  been  right  in  seeing  shemesh  or  '  the  sun  '  in  Sam- 
son's name  ;  but  '  sol  eorum  '  is  of  course  a  mistake." — 
Trenth,  ad  loc. 
"  Samson  "="  Solar  "  according  to  modern  scholars. 

31.  Cf.  Numb.  xiii.  23,  24.  The  "  one  cluster  of  grapes  " 
and  the  "staff"  upon  which  it  was  borne,  are  constantly, 
as  noted  by  Archbishop  Trench,  counted  among  the  O.  T. 
types  of  Christ  and  His  cross.  The  archbishop  quotes 
Hugh  of  St.  Victor,  Inst.  Mor.  i.  4,  August.,  Enarr. 
in  Ps.  viii.  I,  and  the  following  lines  from  Pet.  de  Riga 
to  illustrate  this  fact : 

In  ligno  botrus  est  pendens,  in  cruce  Christus ; 

Profluit  hinc  vinum,  profluit  inde  salus. 
Ejicitur  praelo  de  botro  gratia  vini ; 

Prselo  pressa  crucis  sanguis  et  unda  fluit. 
Trench,  "Sacred  Lat.  Poetry,"  pp.  164,  165. 

36-38.  Saccus  siccus.  Cf.  Ps.  xxx.  II,  E.  V.  ;  xxix.  12,  Vul- 
gate. "  The  sackcloth  is  here  the  flesh  of  Christ  ;  the 
'  royal  uses'  its  immortality  of  glory  after  His  death."' — 
Neale,  "  Mediaeval  Hymns,"  in  a  note  ad  loc.,  page  117. 

41.  Dei.  Trench  considers  rei  a  far  better  reading,  and  it  is 


252  NOTES. 

used  in  the  missals  of  Clugny  and  Paris.  I  have  ventured, 
however,  to  retain  Gautier's  reading  of  del,  as  occurring 
in  the  larger  number  of  both  MSS.  and  printed  editions 
of  this  hymn. 

43.  "  The  poet  with  only  the  Vulgate  before  him,  in  which  he 
found  (Gen.  iv.  15)  'Posuitque  Dominus  Cain  signum,' 
Cain  being  undeclined,  understood  the  passage  thus: — 
'  The  Lord  set  Cain  for  a  sign,'  instead  of  '  The  Lord  set 
a  sign  upon  Cain.'  " — Trenctis  note,  ad  loc. 

44-47.  Cf.  Psalm  cxviii.  22:  "The  stone  which  the  builders 
refused  is  become  the  head-stone  in  the  corner  ; "  Isaiah 
xxviii.  1 6 ;  Mark  xii.  10  ;  Luke  xx.  17  ;  Matth.  xxi.  42; 
Acts  iv.  li;  Ephes.  ii.  20 ;  I  Peter  ii.  6,  7. 

SEQUENCE  X. 

IO.  Cf.  John  xii.  36  :  "  While  ye  have  the  light,  believe  in 
the  light,  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  light." 

25,  26.  Cf.  Exodus  xii.  5  :  "  Your  lamb  shall  be  without 
blemish" 

SEQUENCE  XI. 

25-28.  "  The  reference  is  to  the  question,  put  by  God  to  Job, 
'  Canst  thou  draw  out  Leviathan  with  a  hook  ? ' — Job  xii. 
I,  2.  But  what  man  was  unable  to  do,  that  Christ  could 
and  did  effect  on  the  true  Leviathan,  Satan.  Thus,  ac- 
cording to  the  Fathers,  our  Lord's  humanity  was  the  bait, 
His  Divinity  the  hook ;  Satan,  unconsciously  swallowing 
the  one,  was  destroyed  by  the  other.  Thus  .  .  .  .  St. 
Hildebert  in  his  epigrams,  if  we  may  so  call  them,  named 
'  The  Moral  Interpretation  of  Scripture : '  — 

'  Fisher  the  Father  is ;  this  world  the  sea ; 

Christ's  flesh  the  bait,  the  hook  His  Deity, 

The  line  His  generation.     Satan  took 

The  offered  bait,  and  perished  by  the  hook.' " 

Neales  "Med.  Hymns,"  pp.  122,  123. 


NOTES.  253 

43,  44.  "  At  Easter  the  song  of  '  Alleluia '  begins  again, 

which  the  church  puts  away  through  the  whole  of  Lent." 
— Gautier,  ad  loc. 

SEQUENCE  XII. 
31.  Cf.  Rev.  v.  5  ;  Amos  iii.  8. 

44.  A  reference  to  the  double  alleluias  in  the  responses  to  the 
Lessons  and  at  the  close  of  an  Office,  peculiar  in  several 
rites  to  Easter-tide. 

SEQUENCE  XIII. 
23.  Some  MSS.,  e.g.,  the  Paris  Missal,  read  "fallitur"  for 

"tollitur." 
27.  Cf.  John  xiv.  30  :     "  The  prince  of  this  world  cometh, 

and  hath  nothing  in  me." 
34.  Cf.  Gen.  iii.  24  :     "  He  placed  at  the  east  of  the  Garden 

of  Eden  cherubims  and  a  flaming  sword,  •which  turned 

every  way  to  keep  the  way  of  the  Tree  of  Life." 

SEQUENCE  XIV. 

I,  2.  Cf.  I  Cor.  v.  7,  8  :  "  Purge  out  therefore  the  old 
leaven,  .  .  let  us  keep  the  feast  not  with  the  old  leaven 
.  .  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth  "  ; 
Exod.  xii.  19. 

4-6.  Cf.  Exod.  xii.  41,  42. 

12.  Cf.  Exod.  i.  14 ;  v.  12. 

1 6.  Cf.  Psalm  cxviii.  24. 

19-21.  Cf.  Heb.  x.  ij  Col.  ii.  17;  Rom.  x.  4 ;  2  Cor. 
i.  20. 

25.  Cf.  Gen.  xxi.  6.  St.  Hildebert,  following  the  Fathers, 
says,  "  Isaac,  whose  name  by  interpretation  is  laughter, 
signifies  Christ.  For  Christ  is  the  joy  of  men  and 
angels." — Neale,  "Med.  Hymns,"  page  122. 

"  The  use  of  forma  tor  figura,  TVTTO^,  is  frequent." — 
Trench,  "  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,"  p.  1 68. 


254  NOTES. 

31  et  seq.     Cf.  Exodus  vii.  10-12. 

38.  Cf.  Job  xl.  20,  21,  Vulgate;  xli.  i,  2,  E.  V.  Vid.  Note 
to  Sequence  xi.  25-28. 

39.  Cf.  Isaiah  xi.  8.     "Regulus,  the  diminutive  of  'rex,' 
answers  to  'basilisk,'  a  name  we  give  to  a  serpent  with 
crown-like,    and  so  kingly  marks  upon  its    head." — 
Trench,  ad  loc. 

43-45.  Cf.  2  Kings  ii.  23-25. 

46.  "  Arreptitius  "  =  arreplus  furore.    Cf.  I   Sam.  xxi.   14. 
St.  Augustine  uses  the  word  in  his  "  De  Civ.  Dei,"  ii.  4. 
The  same  author  in  another  work  expounds  the  mystery 
of  David's  supposed  madness,  and  of  the  prophecy  which 
was  therein  of  Christ,  of  whom  the  people  said,  "  He  is 
mad  and  hath  a  devil."     David's  escape  from  the  pre- 
sence of  Achish  represents  to  him  Christ's  escape  at  His 
resurrection  from  the  Jews.  Enarr.  I.  in  Ps.  xxxiii.  Cf. 
Trench,  ad  loc. 

47,  48.  Cf.  Lev.  xvi.  22  ;  xiv.  49-53. 
49.  Cf.  Judges  xvi.  2,  3. 

58.  "  The  legend,  frequent  in  the  middle  ages,  that  the  lion's 
whelps  were  born  dead,  and  first  roused  to  life  on  the 
third  day  by  the  roar  of  their  sire,  was  often  contemplated 
as  a  natural  type  of  the  Resurrection." — Trench,  "  Sacred 
Latin  Poetry,"  note,  page  70. 

65.  Cf.  Canticles  i.  14 :  "  My  beloved  is  unto  me  as  a 
cluster  of  camphire  in  the  vineyards  of  En-gedi." 

Botrus  cypri-=.Cyprus  grape,  used  in  this  passage  in 
the  Vulgate,  is  an  error  from  following  the  Septuagint, 
' '  /Sorpi'c  TT/C  Kvirpov, "  where  the  last  word  does  not  mean 
the  island  Cyprus,  but  merely  copies  the  Hebrew 
"  kopher  "=r  camphor-plant,  and  botrus  means  only 
cluster. 

72.  Cf.  Matthew  xxvii.  52. 

73,  74.  Cf.  Psalm  xxx.  5. 


NOTES.  255 

SEQUENCE  XVI. 

10-12.  Cf.  Deut.  xxxii.  13  :  "Honey  out  of  the  rock  and 
oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock." 

25.  Cf.  Lev.  xviii.  16,  17.  The  poet  alludes  probably  to 
the  mediaeval  interpretation  of  the  two  loaves  offered  as 
first-fruits  at  the  end  of  harvest,  as  typifying  that  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Christian  Church  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost 
should  be  two-fold,  viz.  :  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

31,  32.  Cf.  Matthew  ix.  17  :  Utres  novi;  "  sunt  homines 
per  gratiam  innovati."  Utres  vetusti :  "sunt  homines  pec- 
catores  veterem  hominem  cum  actibus  suis  imitantes." 
Sunt  capaces  novi  musti:  "In  novos  [utres]  vinum 
ponendum  est  novum  scilicet  Spiritus  Sanctus  qui  vinum 
novum  dicitur  ab  effectu,  etc."  Petrus  Cantor.,  "Spici- 
legium  Solesmense,"  ii.  462.  Quoted  by  Gautier,  ad  loc. 

33,  34.     Cf.  2  Kings  iv.  1-7. 

S3»  54-  Cf.  Gen.  i.  2.  As  the  Spirit  moved  over  the  face 
of  the  waters  at  the  Creation,  so  does  it,  the  poet  suggests, 
over  the  waters  of  baptism. 

SEQUENCE  XVII. 

I.  Ab  utroque.  Adam  here  emphasizes  a  protest  against 
the  heresy  of  the  Greek  Church  as  to  the  procession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  Father  alone. 

SEQUENCE  XVIII. 
3.     Gautier  reads  reformet  for  illustret.    I  have  preferred  the 

latter,  as  the  reading  adopted  by  Archbishop  Trench  and 

Daniel. 
7-28.     "These  stanzas  are  in  the  true  spirit  of  St.  Paul  and 

St.  Augustine,  and  hardly  to  be  understood  fully  without 

reference  to  the  writings  of  the  latter,  above  all  to  his 


256  NOTES. 

anti-Pelagian  tracts,  wherein  he  constantly  contrasts,  as 
Adam  does  here,  the  killing  letter  of  the  old,  and  the 
quickening  spirit  of  the  new,  covenant." — Trench^  ad 
loc. 

19,  20.  Cf.  Exodus  xix.  16,  Vulgate  :  "Ecce  cceperunt  au- 
diri  tonitrua  ac  micare  fulgura,  et  nubes  densissima 
operire  montem,  clangorque  buccinse  vehementius  per- 
strepebat." 

21,22.  Cf.  Exodus  xx.  1 8,  Vulgate:  "Cunctus  autem 
populus  videbat  voces  et  lampades,  et  sonitum  buccinse, 
montemque  fumantem  :  et  perterriti  ac  pavore  concussi 
steterunt  procul. " 

30  et  seq.     Cf.  Acts  ii. 

40.  "The  poet  sees  in  the  Jewish  year  of  Jubilee — the  year 
of  restitution  and  restoration — a  type  of  that  great  epoch 
of  re-creation  and  restoration  that  began  at  Pentecost. " — 
Trench,  ad  loc.  Cf.  Lev.  xxv. 

47,  48.  Vel  dimittens  vel  mutattis  :  "  These  etymologies  of 
Jubilee  have  long  been  given  up." — Trench,  ad  loc. 

Dr.  Littledale,  in  writing  to  me  on  this  point,  says  : 
"It  is  not  quite  correct  to  say  that  the  etymology  dimit- 
tens has  long  been  given  up.  There  is  a  good  deal  to  be 
said  for  it,  and  the  verb  which  yields  the  meaning,  VlTi 
agrees,  except  in  vocal  points,  with  that  which  is  ac- 
cepted by  most  modern  critics,  meaning  to  "flow  im- 
petuously," and  held  to  refer  to  the  flowing  from  the 
trumpets.  But  there  is  quite  as  much  to  be  said  for  the 
earlier  view,  supported  as  it  is  by  Josephus," — who  in 
"Ant.,"iii.  12,  3,  makes  it  mean  "liberty."  Modern 
critics,  following  Kranold,  interpret  the  word  as  "  Id  quod 
magno  strepitu  fluit  "=  a  rushing,  penetrating  sound. 
Cf.  Smith's  "Diet,  of  the  Bible,"  vol.  i.  p.  1151. 


NOTES.  257 

SEQUENCE  XIX. 

41  et  seq.     This  stanza  is  unfinished  in  the  MSS. 

58.  This  repetition  of  line  50  is  probably  a  clerical  error  of 
the  transcriber,  which  cannot  unfortunately  be  corrected 
now. 

SEQUENCE  XX. 

21-28.     Vide  note  on  Sequence  xvi.  53,  54,  ante. 

23.  Cf.  Gen.  i.  2,  Vulgate :  "  Et  Spiritus  Dei  ferebatur  super 
aquas." 

35.     Cf.  Isaiah  iv.  I. 

37.  The  word  forma  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  mediaeval 
philosophy,  but  the  meaning  it  mostly  bore  at  the  date 
of  Adam  of  St.  Victor  was  that  property  which  made 
anything  to  be  a  species  of  its  genus.  Thus  essence  or 
kind  will  come  near  to  its  intention.  Here  Adam's 
notion  would  seem  to  be  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
anima  mundi.  I  have  used  the  word  "type"  in  this 
stanza,  not  in  its  meaning  of  allegory  or  similitude,  but 
as  representing  any  form  or  species  of  being  or  idea. 

SEQUENCE  XXII. 

7,  8.  "  Relative  significat  vox  qure  relationem  significat,  ut  vox 
Pater :  importat  enim  relationem  ad  Filium.  Substantive 
autem  vox  quae  significat  aliquid  per  se  subsistens  absque 
ullo  respectu  ad  aliud,  ut  vox  Deus."  (Lexicon  quo 
veterum  philosophorum  locutiones  explicanttir,  ToRNACl. 
Casterman,  1849.) 

"  Gautier  explains  that  the  Latin  adverb  '  relative '  is 
used  here  with  special  reference  to  the  relation  subsisting 
between  the  divine  persons  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  ;  also 
that  the  word  '  substantive  '  signifies  that  which  subsists 
without  reference  to  any  other,  as  doth  God." — D.  T. 
Morgan's  "Hymns,  &c.,  of  the  Latin  Church,"  note, 
page  151. 

S 


258  NOTES. 

SEQUENCE  XXIII. 

I,  2.  Cf.  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  i,  2,  in  our  Bibles.  The  words  of 
the  Vulgate  are  :  ' '  Quara  dilecta  tabernacula  tua,  Domine 
virtutum !  Concupiscit  et  deficit  anima  mea  in  atria 
Domini."  This  Psalm,  Gautier  says,  is  chanted  whilst 
the  bishop  is  sprinkling  the  proposed  site  of  a  church 
with  holy  water.  Tabernaculum  signifies  "  temple  ; " 
but  the  material  temple  is  here  only  the  representation 
of  the  spiritual  temple,  where  God  is  worshipped  ' '  in 
spirit  and  in  truth" — the  Church.  It  is  then  of  the 
Church,  as  the  congregation  of  the  faithful,  that  Adam 
speaks  throughout  this  sequence,  without  doubt  one  of 
the  most  difficult,  and  perhaps  the  most  figurative,  of  all 
of  his.  Cf.  Gautier,  ad  loc. 

3-6.     Cf.  Matthew  vii.  24,  25  ;  Ephes.  ii.  20 ;  Rev.  xxi.  14. 

10-12.  Cf.  Gen.  ii.  21,  22.  As  woman  was  formed  out  of  a 
rib  taken  from  Adam's  side  whilst  he  slept,  so  the  sacra- 
ments flowed  from  the  side  of  Christ,  when  pierced  by 
the  spear,  during  His  sleep  of  death  upon  the  Cross. 
Umbra,  in  line  10,  =  the  Old  Testament. 

13-15.  Cf.  Gen.  viL  The  ark  typifies  the  Church  on  earth, 
riding  in  safety  over  the  floods  of  the  world's  wickedness. 
Noah  is  the  type  of  Christ. 

16-18.  Cf.  Gen.  xviii.  12,  13.  Sarah  typifies  the  Church  on 
earth,  and  Isaac  Christ.  On  gaudium,  vide  note  to 
Hymn  xiv.,  line  25,  ante. 

20.  Cf.  Gen.  xxiv.  17-20.  "  According  to  the  mediaeval 
allegory, — Isaac  is  Christ ;  Rebecca  the  Gentile  Church  ; 
Eliezer  the  Apostles  and  Doctors  whom  He  sent  to  betroth 
that  Church  to  Himself;  the  servant's  thirst,  their  ardour 
for  souls,  satisfied  by  the  obedience  of  the  Gentile  con- 
verts, as  Eliezer's  by  the  pitcher  of  Rebecca." — Neale, 
"Mediaeval  Hymns,"  page  150. 


NOTES.  259 

23.  Cf.  Gen.  xxiv.  22.  "  As  Rebecca  puts  on  the  bracelets 
and  ear-rings  which  Isaac  sent  her,  so  the  Gentile  Church 
adorns  herself  for  her  Lord  ;  but  with  ornaments  of  His 
giving." — Trench,  ad  loc. 

25-27.  Cf.  Gen.  xxvii.  5.  "  Esau  going  away  to  hunt  here 
represents  the  Jew,  who  while  wandering  in  search  of 
the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  and  careless  about  the  spirit, 
lost  the  blessing,  which  Jacob  obtained." — Neale,  "  Me- 
diaeval Hymns, ;>  p.  150. 

28,  29.  Cf.  Gen.  xxix.,  xxx.  "Leah  and  Rachel  typify  here 
the  Synagogue  and  the  Church — Leah  the  Synagogue, 
lippa,  unable  to  see  Christ,  the  true  end  of  the  law  ; 
but  Rachel,  or  the  Church,  widens,  seeing  the  things 
that  belong  unto  her  peace." — Trench,  ad  loc. 

31.  Cf.  Gen.  xxxviii.  14.  "  Tamar  is  the  Gentile  Church  ; 
the  garment,  in  which  she  sat  by  the  wayside,  confession 
of  sins  ;  her  becoming  the  mother  of  twins  by  Judah, 
while  he  was  ignorant  who  she  was,  is  explained  of  that 
text, — '  A  people  that  have  not  known  me  shall  serve 
me.' — Psalm  xviii.  48." — Neale,  "Mediaeval  Hymns," 
p.  151. 

34-36.  Cf.  Exod.  ii.  "The  Nile  is  the  world,  because  it 
flows  through  Egypt,  the  land  of  darkness.  Moses  is 
the  natural  state  of  man  ;  the  Ark  his  vain  endeavour  to 
work  out  a  righteousness  of  his  own  ;  Pharaoh's  daugh- 
ter the  grace  of  God,  which  finally  makes  him  by  adop- 
tion a  son  of  the  true  King." — Neale,  "  Med.  Hymns," 
p.  151. 

37-39.  Cf.  Exod.  xii.  5  ;  I  Cor.  v.  7. 

40-42.  "In  mari  rubro  submersus  est  Pharao  et  principes 
ejus  ;  et  in  baptismo  liberamur  a  potestate  diaboli  et 
principum  ejus." — Hugh  of  St.  Victor. 

44-46.  s£dis  ornamenta.  "The  candlestick,  altar  of  incense, 
table  of  shew-bread,  and  the  like.  The  poet  would  say, 
4  Here,  in  the  tabernacle  which  the  Lord  hath  pitched, 


26o  NOTES. 

are  these  in  their  truth,  and  not,  as  in  that  of  old,  the  mere 
figures  of  the  true,' — Hebrews  ix." — Trench,  ad  loc. 

The  pot  is  Christ's  Manhood ;  the  manna  His  God- 
head ;  the  Ten  Commandments  typify  the  new  law  that 
Christ  brought  from  heaven,  and  committed  to  the  care 
of  the  Church  =  the  Ark  of  the  covenant. 
47,  48.  Poderis.  Cf.  Exod.  xxviii.  4  and  31.  "The  poet 
would  say,  '  Here,  in  the  Church,  are  the  realities  which 
the  garments  of  the  high-priest,  indumenta,  and  the 
robe,  poderis,  the  chief  among  them,  did  but  foreshow." 
— Trench,  ad  loc. 

Hie  sttnt  adis  ornamenta.  Symbolical  meanings  were 
attached  to  the  ornaments  of  the  Temple  by  Mediaeval 
writers,  e.g.,  the  table  of  shew-bread  signified  Holy 
Scripture ;  its  "  crown  of  gold  round  about,"  preaching  j 
its  four  rings,  the  four  Gospels ;  the  staves,  preachers  ; 
and  the  twelve  loaves,  the  Apostles'  doctrine,  and  so  on. 
Cf.  Hugh  of  St.  Victor's  "Allegories  on  Numbers" 
chaps,  xi.,  xii. 

Hie  Aaron  indumenta.  Each  of  the  High  Priest's  vest- 
ments also  had  mystic  meaning  in  Mediaeval  symbolism  ; 
according  to  the  same  authority, —  "Allegories  on 
Exodus,"  chap,  xv.,  when  commenting  on  Exod.  ii.  28, — 
the  breastplate  was  wisdom  and  discretion  ;  the  ephod, 
endurance  ;  the  robe,  well-doing  ;  the  girdle,  prepara- 
tion therefor ;  the  gold  plate — upon  the  front  of  the  mitre 
— confession  of  the  faith ;  the  golden  bell,  the  preaching 
of  it,  &c. 

49-54.  Cf.  2  Samuel  xi.  26,  27;  Ps.  xlv.  9.  "Uriah  sets 
forth  the  Jews  ;  Bathsheba,  the  true  Church  ;  David  re- 
presents Christ.  .  .  The  symbolical  interpretation  of 
the  history  is  very  well  given  by  Hildebert : 

"Bersabee  lex  est ;  rex  David ;  Christus  Urias  ; 
Judaeo  regi  nuda  puella  placet. 

Nuda  placet  Christo  lex  non  vestita  figuris  ; 
Aufert  Judaeis  hanc,  sociatque  sibi. 


NOTES.  261 

"  Vir  non  vult  intrare  domum,  nee  spiritualem 
Intellectum  plebs  Israel  ingreditur. 

Scripta  gerit,  per  scripta  perit  deceptus  Urias  ; 
Sic  et  Judseus  scripta  sequendo  perit." 

Male,  "Med.  Hymns,"  p.  152. 

55.  "  The  coming  of  the  Queen  of  the  South — Matthew  xii. 
24 — to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon — I  Kings  x. — 
was  a  favourite  type  of  the  coming  of  the  Gentile  world 
to  hear  the  wisdom  of  a  greater  than  Solomon." — 
Trench,  ad  loc. 

58.  Cf.  Cant.  i.  5;  2  Cor.  iv.  7.  The  Church  "hath  her 
treasure  in  earthen  vessels." 

60.  Cf.  Cant.  iii.  6.  The  Church,  as  the  bride,  is  likened  to 
"  a  pillar  of  smoke  perfumed  with  myrrh  and  frankin- 
cense, with  all  powders  of  the  merchant." 

64-66.  "  Nttftue  sunt  Christi  et  Ecclesiae ;  dilectus  est 
Christus  ;  lectus  unitas  ecclesise." — S.  Melito. 

67-69.  "According  to  the  Mediaeval  allegory  .  .  .  the 
trumpets,  as  usually  employed  in  the  Jewish  feasts, 
are  the  harsher  Law  ;  the  sweeter  psaltery  is  the  gentler 
teaching  of  the  Gospel." — Neale,  "Med.  Hymns,"  p.  152. 


SEQUENCE  XXIV. 

7  et  seq.  Cf.  I  Kings  vi.,  vii.  ;  2  Chron.  iii.  iv. 

33-35.  Each  of  the  perfumes  named  is  symbolic,  according 
to  Mediaeval  interpretation,  e.g.,  cinnamon  stands  for  the 
"  odour  of  sanctity ;"  myrrh,  from  its  bitterness,  signi- 
fies "  the  mortification  of  the  flesh;"  stacte,  or  myrrh- 
oil,  what  results  from  such  mortification  ;  cassia,  being 
purgative,  represents  confession  ;  or  the  three  perfumes 
may  be  taken  as  signifying  respectively  penitence,  morti- 
fication, and  pardon. 


262  NOTES. 

SEQUENCE  XXV. 

4.  Cf.  Gen.  xxviii.  12.  The  Church  is  the  ladder,  which, 
like  Jacob's,  stretches  from  earth  to  heaven,  by  which 
man  may  reach  the  last  and  God  visits  the  first. 

II,  12.  Vetusta  historia  is  the  Old  Testament;  moderna 
pagina,  the  New. 

13,  14.  Cf.  Psalm  cxxxii.  13,  14. 

24.  Cf.  CanL  ii.  13. 

25.  Cf.  Cant.  ii.  10. 

26.  Cf.  Cant  vi.  10. 

27.  28.  Cf.  Cant,  vil  5. 

29.  Cf.  Cant.  iv.  I. 

30.  Cf.  Cant.  iv.  3. 

31.  Cf.  Cant,  vil  4. 

32.  Cf.  Cant.  iv.  1 1. 

SEQUENCE  XXVI. 

I.  "Jerusalem  "  and  "  Sion  "  are  used  figuratively  to  denote 
the  Church  Triumphant  and  the  Church  Militant. 

9-12.  Reference  probably  is  here  made  to  Cant.  vi.  9  ;  pos- 
sibly to  the  forty-fifth  Psalm,  and  reginis  in  the  twelfth 
line  would  in  that  case  represent  the ' '  kings'  daughters  " 
in  the  ninth  verse  of  the  Psalm.  Mone  (i.  326)  sees 
a  reference  in  the  expression  to  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 

17-24.  "  Haec  enim  Ecclesia  jam  in  primo  homine  prsefigurata 
est ;  nam  sicut  ex  Adae  latere  fabricata  est  Eva,  ita  et  ex 
corpore  Christ!  et  vulnere  redempta  crevit  Ecclesia." — 
Lefons  du  brhriaire  de  Langres  four  /<•  jfour  de  la 
Dldicace.  Vide  note  on  Sequence  xxiii.  10-12. 

30.  Cf.  Cant.  vi.  9,  Vulgate:    "  Pulchra  ut  luna,  electa  ut 
sol" 

31,  32.  Cf.  Cant,  vi  3  and  9,  Vulgate :  "  Pulchra  es,  arnica 

mea,  et  decora  sicut  Jerusalem  :  terribilis  ut  castrvrum 
odes  ordinato" 


NOTES.  263 

37.  As  the  Jordan  of  old  was  parted  in  the  midst  to  make  a 
pathway  by  which  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and  the 
Israelites  might  pass  through  it,  so  the  ranks  of  the 
Gentile  world  have  opened  out  to  admit  the  new  dispen- 
sation of  Christ. 

38-40.  The  Queen  of  Sheba  here  represents  the  Church  com- 
ing to  hear  the  wisdom  of  one  greater  than  Solomon. 

47,  48.  Cf.  Rev.  xix.  7. 

SEQUENCE  XXVII. 

St.  Andrew,  so  runs  the  legend,  who  preached  the 
Gospel  in  Thrace  and  Scythia,  having  been  arrested  by 
JEgeas,  the  proconsul  at  Patras  in  Achaia,  was  first  cast 
into  prison,  then  cruelly  scourged,  and  at  last  crucified. 
During  the  two  days  that  he  lived  upon  the  cross  he  never 
ceased  instructing  the  people  ;  and  having  prayed  to  our 
Lord  not  to  suffer  him  to  be  taken  down  from  the  cross, 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  great  light  from  heaven,  and, 
after  it  presently  disappeared,  departed  this  life. 

7  et  seq.  Cf.  John  i.  36,  37,  40-42. 

13.  Cf.  Matthew  iv.  18  et  seq. 

37.  Vide  the  hymn,  "  Salve,  tropseum  gloriae,"  which  Arch- 
bishop Trench  gives  in  his  "Sacred  Latin  Poetry,"  p.  219. 
It  is  there  attributed  to  the  Venerable  Bede,  and  its  sub- 
ject is  "  SL  Andrew  addressing  the  Cross." 

SEQUENCE  XXVIII. 

St.  Nicholas  belongs  to  the  fourth  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  was  a  native  of  the  city  of  Patara,  in 
Lycia,  in  Asia  Minor.  So  strong  were  his  devotional 
tendencies,  even  from  infancy,  that  the  legend  asserts 
that  he  refused  to  suck  the  breast  on  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays,  the  fast-days  appointed  by  the  Church.  He 
afterwards  became  Archbishop  of  Myra,  the  capital  of 


264  NOTES. 

Lycia.  Whilst  he  was  still  resident  at  Patara,  a  noble- 
man in  that  town,  who  had  three  daughters,  had  sunk  to 
such  depths  of  poverty,  as  to  be  on  the  point  of  selling 
their  persons  for  prostitution,  as  the  only  means  of  pre- 
serving them  from  starvation.  St.  Nicholas,  who  had 
inherited  a  large  fortune,  no  sooner  heard  of  this  unfor- 
tunate family,  than  he  resolved  to  save  it  from  the  degra- 
dation with  which  it  was  threatened.  As  he  proceeded 
secretly  to  the  nobleman's  house  at  night,  debating  how 
he  might  best  accomplish  his  object,  the  moon  shone  out 
from  behind  a  cloud,  and  showed  him  an  open  window 
into  which  he  threw  a  purse  of  gold.  This  fell  at  the 
nobleman's  feet,  and  enabled  him  to  portion  his  eldest 
daughter.  A  second  nocturnal  visit  was  paid  to  the 
house  by  the  saint,  and  a  similar  present  bestowed,  which 
procured  a  dowry  for  the  second  daughter.  But  the  father 
was  now  determined  to  discover  his  mysterious  benefactor, 
and  with  that  view  set  himself  to  watch.  On  St.  Nicholas 
approaching  and  preparing  to  throw  in  a  purse  of  money 
for  the  third  daughter,  the  nobleman  caught  hold  of  the 
skirt  of  his  robe,  and  threw  himself  at  his  feet,  exclaim- 
ing, "O  Nicholas!  servant  of  God!  why  seek  to  hide  thy- 
self ?  "  But  the  saint  made  him  promise  that  he  would 
inform  no  one  of  this  seasonable  act  of  benevolence. 

On  another  occasion  he  is  said  to  have  personally  ap- 
peared to  and  saved  some  sailors,  who  had  invoked  his 
assistance  during  a  storm. 

He  was  buried  at  Myra,  but  during  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury some  merchants  of  Bari,  on  the  Adriatic,  carried  off 
his  bones  to  Italy.  On  the  day  they  landed,  May  gth, 
1087,  at  Bari,  we  are  told  that  thirty  persons  were 
cured  of  various  distempers,  and  since  that  time  his  tomb 
has  been  famous  for  pilgrimages. 

The  above  facts  are  taken,  with  very  little  alteration, 
from  a  long  account  of  this  saint  in  Chambers's  ' '  Book  of 


NOTES.  265 

Days,"  and  include  most  of  the  wonders  dwelt  upon 
in  this  sequence.     Vol.  ii.  pp.  661,  662. 

SEQUENCE  XXIX. 

15.  Luds  adversarii.  Cf.  John  viii.  12;  i.  9. 

16.  Cf.  Acts  vi.  9,  13. 
1 8.  Cf.  Luke  iii.  7. 
24.  Cf.  Rev.  ii.  9. 

31.  Cf.  I  Peter  i.  4. 

37-48.   Cf.  Acts  vii.  55,  56. 

49-54.  Cf.  Acts  vii.  57,  58. 

55-60.  Cf.  Acts  vii.  59,  60. 

63-66.  Cf.  St.  Augustine's  "Civitas  Dei,"  lib.  xxii. 

66-70.  Cf.  Acts.  viii.  2  :   "  ffvvtKopiffav  Sk  TOV  2re0avov 
tv\aj3eis  icai  f.iroir\aavTo  Kovfrbv   fiiyav   lit' 
It  was  probably  upon  this   somewhat   slender 
foundation  that  the  elaborate  legend  referred  to  in  these 
lines  was  built  by  writers  of  the  fifth   century.     The 
legend,  as  given  in  Smith's  "Diet,  of  the  Bible,  "vol.  iii. 
P-  Z379>  was  as  follows : — 

"  The  High-Priest,  it  is  said,  had  intended  to  leave  the 
corpse  of  St.  Stephen  to  be  devoured  by  beasts  of  prey. 
It  was  rescued  by  Gamaliel,  carried  off  in  his  own  chariot 
by  night,  and  buried  in  a  new  tomb  upon  his  property  at 
Caphar  Gamala=  Fi7/a£v?  of  the  Camel,  eight  leagues  from 
Jerusalem.  The  funeral  lamentations  lasted  forty  days. 
All  the  Apostles  attended.  Gamaliel  undertook  the  ex- 
pense, and,  on  his  death,  was  interred  in  an  adjacent  cave. 
"  This  story  was  probably  first  drawn  up  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  remarkable  event  which  occurred  in  A.D.  415. 
under  the  name  of  "the  Invention  and  Translation  of 
the  Relics  of  St.  Stephen."  Successive  visions  of  Gama- 
liel to  Lucian,  the  parish  priest  of  Caphar  Gamala,  on 
the  3rd  and  i8th  of  December  in  that  year,  revealed  the 
spot  where  the  remains  of  the  martyr  would  be  found. 


266  NOTES. 

They  were  identified  by  a  tablet  bearing  his  name 
Cheliel,  and  were  carried  in  state  to  Jerusalem,  amidst 
various  portents,  and  buried  in  the  church  on  Mount 
Zion,  the  scene  of  so  many  early  Christian  traditions." 
71,  72.  The  legend  adds,  that,  when  they  began  to  dig,  and 
disturb  the  soil  about  the  saint's  tomb,  a  delightful  fra- 
grance arose  therefrom,  and  cured  seventy  persons,  sick 
of  different  diseases  and  infirmities. 


SEQUENCE  XXX. 

I.  The  rose,  as  though  red  with  blood,  is  an  emblem  con- 
stantly used  in  Mediaeval  poetry  for  Martyrs. 

4-6.  Egypt,  the  land  of  darkness  and  tribulation  to  the  Jews, 
typifies  the  world  in  bondage  to  Satan. 

7-12.  Cf.  Acts  vii.  56-58. 

13-18.  Cf.  Acts  vii.  59. 

19-24.  Cf.  Acts  vii.  55. 

25.  Grapes  in  the  wine-press  are  emblems  of  Christ  and  his 
Martyrs  in  their  sufferings. 

SEQUENCE  XXXI. 

7-9.  Cf.  John  xiii.  23. 

10,  II.  Cf.  John  xix.  25-27. 

12.  Tradition  represents  St.  John  as  having  been  throughout 
his  whole  life  a  pure  virgin. 

1 6- 1 8.  An  allusion  to  the  miracle  by  which  St.  John  escapes 
martyrdom  at  Rome.  "  Jussu  igitur  Domitiani,  Romam 
deducitur  et  deducto  omnes  capilli  pro  derisioni  a  capite 
praescinduntur,  ac  ante  portam  urbis  quae  Latinam  dicitur 
in  dolium  ferventis  olei,  igne  desubter  candente,  mitti 
jubetur :  nullum  tamen  ibidem  dolorem  sensit,  sed  penitus 
illsesus  exivit." — Golden  Legend,  "  De  Johanne  ante  Por- 
tam Latinam." 


NOTES.  267 

19.  This  refers  to  the  legend  that,  whilst  in  Asia,  St.  John 
drank  a  cup  of  hemlock,  which  was  intended  to  cause  his 
death,  and  suffered  no  harm  from  it. 

25-30.  Crato,  a  philosopher,  discoursing  upon  the  worthless- 
ness  of  the  things  of  this  world,  had  persuaded  two  young 
men  to  sell  all  that  they  had,  and  to  spend  the  money  thus 
obtained  in  the  purchase  of  some  jewels.  This  being 
done,  he  induces  them  to  break  the  gems  in  pieces,  when 
St.  John  happened  to  pass  that  way,  and  invited  the  phi- 
losopher to  embrace  the  true  faith.  Crato  said  that  if 
St.  John's  Master  was  the  true  God,  He  could  cause  the 
broken  gems  to  re-unite,  so  that  the  worth  of  them 
might  be  given  to  the  poor.  St.  John  then  took  the 
gems  into  his  hands,  and  prayed,  and  they  became  whole 
once  more.  Upon  this  Crato  and  the  two  young  men 
believed,  and,  selling  the  precious  stones,  gave  the  price 
of  them  to  the  poor.  Two  other  young  men,  touched  by 
this  example,  sold  all  that  they  possessed,  employed 
themselves  in  almsgiving,  and  followed  the  Apostle.  One 
day,  seeing  certain,  who  had  been  their  servants  once, 
richly  clad,  whilst  they  themselves  had  only  an  old  cloak 
to  cover  them,  they  grew  sad.  Then  St.  John,  since 
they  were  on  the  sea-shore,  desired  them  to  collect  some 
bits  of  wood  and  small  pebbles,  and  these  he  changed  into 
gold  and  precious  stones. 

31-41.  Our  Lord  with  His  disciples,  so  the  legend  runs,  ap- 
peared to  St.  John,  then  in  his  ninety-ninth  year,  and 
desired  him  to  come  to  Him,  "  For  it  is  time,"  said  He, 
"  that  thou  shouldest  sup  with  thy  brethren  at  My  table." 
On  the  following  Lord's  day  accordingly,  when  the  people 
were  gathered  in  church,  St.  John,  after  exhorting  them 
to  remain  steadfast  in  the  faith,  directed  a  tomb  to  be  pre- 
pared for  him  near  the  altar,  and  descended  into  it.  A 
bright  light  hid  him  from  the  spectators'  eyes,  and,  when 
it  presently  cleared  away,  instead  of  finding  St.  John 


268  NOTES. 

there,  they  found  the  vault  full  of  manna,  which  con- 
tinued  to  be  constantly  generated  there  ever  afterwards. 

SEQUENCE  XXXII. 

1-6.  Cf.  I  John  ii.  16,  17  ;  John  xii.  48. 

13.   Cf.  Rev.  i.  10. 

19-48.  "  The  poet  urges  that  the  theology,  properly  so  called, 
belongs  to  St.  John.  The  other  Evangelists  set  forth 
Christ's  earthly  ministry  of  labour  and  toil  and  passion  ; 
St  John  rather  the  relation  of  Him,  the  creative  Word, 
to  the  Father, — John  i.  3  ;  Gen.  i.  i, — and  His  return, 
at  the  end  of  time,  cum  ultrici  framea  (v.  48) — these 
last  words  containing  an  allusion  to  that  sublimest  of  all 
visions,  Rev.  xix.  11-16."  Trench,  "Sacred  Latin 
Poetry,"  pp.  73,  74. 

19.  Cf.  Rev.  xix.  12 ;  Gen.  xxxii.  20  ;  Judges  xiii.  17,  18. 

36.  Cf.  Acts  iv.  13,  Vulgate  :  "  Homines  sine  litteris  et 
idiottz." 

37-42.  Cf.  Ezek.  i.  18  ;  x.  12,  as  to  lumen  visuale:  L  6, 
10,  as  to  vultus  anceps :  L  6,  9,  as  to  /eves  ate:  L  21, 
as  to  rota  stantes. 

"  A  difficult  stanza  .  .  .  I  take  Ad  am  to  mean  that 
St.  John's  eagle-glance,  lumen  visuale,  with  all  else  as- 
cribed to  him  here,  was  seen  in  heaven,  anticipated  in 
Ezekiel's  vision,  before  John  himself,  or  his  Lord,  the 
charioteer,  auriga,  of  that  wondrous  chariot,  which  John, 
with  the  other  'living  creatures,'  upbore,  took  form  and 
shape  on  earth.  But  I  am  not  satisfied  with  this  expla- 
nation."—  Trench,  ad  loc. 

49,  50.  Cf.  Ezek.  i.  19,  Vulgate :  "  Cumque  ambularent 
animalia,  ambulabant  pariter  et  rot  re  juxta  ea,  et  cum 
elevarentur  animalia  de  terra,  elevabantur  simul  et  rota." 

52-54.  Cf.  Rev.  v.  8,  9. 


NOTES.  269 


SEQUENCE  XXXIII. 

This  Sequence,  like  all  those  in  the  irregular  metres 
common  to  the  Notkerian  Sequences,  was  probably 
written  to  be  used  with  music  previously  composed. 

Strophe  2.  Nuptias  .  .  liquit.  Adam  seems  here  to 
adopt  the  legendary  notion,  that  the  marriage  at  Cana  in 
Galilee  was  that  of  St.  John,  and  that  the  Apostle  left  the 
marriage-feast  to  follow  Christ. 

Strophe  5.  Virus  sorrens  sorbuit.  Vide  note  to  Sequence 
xxxi.  19.  Vir  vita  refloruit  et  matrona.  The  "  Golden 
Legend  "  records  that  St.  John  raised  a  woman  called 
Drusiana  to  life — "De  S.  Johanne,"  sec.  I.—  and  a 
young  man,  who  had  been  married  thirty  days — sec.  4. 
Ordericus  Vitalis,  "  Eccl.  History  of  England  and  Nor- 
mandy," bk.  ii.  cap.  v.,  gives  Stacteus  as  the  name  of  the 
young  man. 

Aurum  de  frondibus,  &c.  Vide  note  to  Sequence 
xxxi.  25-30. 

Strophe  6.  Hunc  vocans,  &c.     Vide  note  to  Sequence  xxxi. 


SEQUENCE  XXXIV. 

I.  "  Evangelista  Johannes  velut  aquila  volat  altius  caliginem- 
que  terrse  transcendit,  et  lucem  veritatis  firmioribus  oculis 
intuetur." — Augustine,  "  In  Evangel.  Joh.,"  iii.  15,  sec. 
I.  "  Altissimus  Evangelista  ~Dzi."—Anselmi,  "  Orat."  67. 

20.   O  Virgo.     Vide  note  on  Sequence  xxxi.  12. 


SEQUENCE  XXXV. 

I.  Sion  =  The  Church  Militant. 

23,  24.  A  large  portion  of  Thomas  a  Becket's  days  of  exile 


270  NOTES. 

were,  by  the  invitation  of  the  King  of  France,  spent  by 
him  in  the  province  of  Sens  in  France — days  amongst  the 
happiest  of  his  life. 

28.  Points  to  the  probability  of  the  Archbishop  having  passed 
some  time  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Victor. 

31-33.  "In  brevi  in  tantam  familiaritatcm  a  prsefato  rege 
Thomas  est  admissus,  ut  per  diversas  regiones  se  beatos 
reputarent  qui  ei  ut  consiliario  et  cancellario  Domini 
obsecundare  potuissent  .  .  In  regis  palatio  nullus  eo 
potentior." — Quoted  by  Gautier,  ad  loc.,  from  the 
legend  of  St.  Thomas  in  the  "  Langres  Breviary." 

37-40.         "  Summo  sacerdotio  Thomas  sublimatus 

Est  in  virum  alium  subito  mutatus." 
Quoted  by  Gautier  from  the  "  Salisbury  Breviary." 

48,49.  Vide  "Golden  Legend,"  De  S.  Thoma  Cant., 
ss.  3-6. 

53.  Cf.  John  xv.  1,5. 

SEQUENCE  XXXVI. 

19.  Cf.  Matthew  xxiii.  35  :  "That  upon  you  may  come  all 
the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood 
of  righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  son  of 
Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the 
altar." 

24.  Cf.  2  Kings  ii.  23-25. 

25.  Cf.  Matthew  xxiii.  35. 

29.  Thomas  &  Becket's  murder  took  place  on  December 
29th,  1170 — the  morrow  of  the  festival  of  the  Holy 
Innocents. 

52.  Cf.  Rev.  vi.  ii.  Sto!a=z  "Gloria  coelestis."  The  duplex 
stola  has  many  meanings  in  Christian  symbolism  ;  some- 
times it  means  "  impassibilitas  et  immortalitas  "  ;  some- 
times the  soul  and  body,  which,  after  resurrection,  are 
destined  to  a  like  immortality,  &c. — Vide  Gautier, 
ad  loc. 


NOTES.  271 

SEQUENCE  XXXVII. 

I,  2.  Cf.  2  Kings  ii.  19-22. 

3-5.  Cf.  2  Kings  iv.  38-41. 

12.  Seir,  which  is  the  same  as  Edom,  is  here  taken  to  represent 
Esau. 

27.  Bethel.  Gautier  accepts  the  poet's  use  of  ' '  Bethel "  in 
this  passage,  and  has  a  note  to  explain  its  appropriate- 
ness ;  but  taken  in  connection  with  the  following  line  it 
would  almost  appear  that  Adam  had  for  once  made  a  slip 
from  Scriptural  accuracy,  and  confounded  "  Bethel  "  with 
"Bethesda." 

The  ancient  name  of  Canterbury  was  "Durovernum 
Cantiorum,"  but  "Dorobernia"  or  "  Dorovernia "  = 
Dover. 

28-30.  Cf.  John  v.  1-8. 

31-35.  The  idea  seems  to  be  that  from  the  number  of  miracles 
of  healing  of  which  the  shrine  of  Becket  at  Canterbury 
became  the  scene,  it  rivalled  the  waters  of  Jordan  and 
the  pool  of  Siloam.  Cf.  2  Kings  v.  ;  John  ix.  7  ;  Exod. 
xvi.  1-12. 

37-40.  Cf.  I  Sam.  i.  24;  Matth.  xiv.  I-I2. 

51-75.  I  have  not  succeeded  in  tracing  any  of  the  miracles 
attributed  to  this  saint,  beyond  the  statement  of  them  in 
the  text.  Gautier  is  silent  as  to  any  other  authority  for 
them. 

SEQUENCE  XXXVIII. 

The  story  of  St.  Genevieve's  life  is  as  follows: — 
"  About  the  year  430,  St.  Germanus  of  Auxerre  and  St. 
Lupus  of  Troyes,  being  on  their  way  to  England  to 
combat  the  Pelagian  heresy,  stayed  one  night  at  Nanterre, 
then  a  village,  about  seven  miles  from  Paris.  The  vil- 
lagers assembled  to  see  two  prelates  of  such  renown,  and 


272  NOTES. 

a  little  girl  in  the  crowd  attracted  the  notice  of  St. 
Germanus.  Calling  her  to  him,  he  asked  the  bystanders 
who  she  was,  and  learnt  that  her  name  was  Genovefa, 
that  she  was  seven  years  of  age,  and  her  parents'  names 
were  Severus  and  Gerontia.  The  parents  were  summoned 
at  his  request,  and  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  he  bade  them 
rejoice  in  the  sanctity  of  their  daughter,  for  that  she  would 
be  the  means  of  saving  many.  Then,  addressing  himself 
to  the  child,  he  dwelt  on  the  high  state  of  virginity,  and 
engaged  her  to  consecrate  herself.  The  bishops  then  held 
a  service  in  the  church,  and  at  nightfall  bade  Severus 
bring  his  daughter  again  at  early  dawn.  Before  depart- 
ing St.  Germanus  reminded  her  of  her  promise,  and 
giving  her  a  brazen  coin  marked  with  the  cross,  bade  her 
wear  it  as  her  only  ornament,  and  leave  gold  and  precious 
stones  for  the  servants  of  the  world.  Henceforth  miracles 
marked  her  out  as  the  spouse  of  Christ ;  her  mother  was 
struck  blind  for  a  thoughtless  blow,  and  only  healed  by 
the  girl's  supernatural  gifts.  Brought  to  the  archbishop 
of  Paris,  generally  supposed  to  have  been  Felix,  to  be 
formally  consecrated  as  a  virgin,  he  recognized  her 
sanctity,  and  preferred  her  over  the  two  girls  who  ac- 
companied her.  In  the  course  of  time  her  parents  died, 
and  Genovefa  was  taken  by  her  godmother  to  live  in 
Paris.  Here  she  fell  ill,  and  lay  three  days  in  a  trance, 
in  which  an  angel  led  her  to  see  the  dwellings  of  the  just, 
and  the  rewards  prepared  for  those  who  love  God.  .  . 
The  rumour  of  Attila's  merciless  and  irresistible  progress 
reached  Paris,  and  the  terrified  citizens  were  for  fleeing 
with  their  families  and  goods  ;  but  Genovefa  prophesied 
that  Paris  would  remain  unharmed.  .  .  Nor  did 
the  Huns  reach  Paris,  but  were  diverted  through  the 
efficacy  of  her  prayers,  as  after  ages  believed  (circa 
448). 

"  But  her  abstinence  and  self-inflicted  privations  are 


NOTES.  273 

perhaps  her  greatest  characteristic.  From  her  fifteenth 
to  her  fiftieth  year  she  ate  but  twice  a  week,  and  then 
only  bread  of  barley,  or  beans.  Wine  and  strong  drink 
were  unknown  to  her.  After  her  fiftieth  year,  by  com- 
mand of  her  bishops,  she  added  a  little  fish  and  milk  to 
her  bread." — Smith  and  Wacfs  "Diet,  of  Christian 
Biography,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  632,  633. 

29,  30.  "  To  her  wonder-working  powers,  no  less  than  to  her 
zeal,  was  due  the  building  at  Paris  of  what  was  in  its 
beginning  a  humble  chapel  in  honour  of  St.  Denys  and 
his  companions." — Smith  and  Wace's  "Diet,  of  Christian 
Biography,"  ii.  633. 

It  was  during  the  building  of  this  church,  when  the 
workmen  employed  upon  it  were  without  any  means  of 
satisfying  their  thirst,  that  the  saint,  taking  an  empty 
cask,  prayed  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  it, 
and  the  cask  was  immediately  filled  to  the  brim,  and 
supplied  the  workmen  continuously  until  the  building 
was  complete. 

31,  32.  The  legend  ran  that  a  boy  of  four  years  old,  who  had 
fallen  into  a  well,  and  after  three  hours  had  been  taken 
out  of  it  dead,  was  brought  to  St.  Genevieve  by  his 
mother,  and  that  the  saint  spread  her  cloak  over  the 
body,  and  by  prayer  restored  it  to  life  again. 

37,  38.  St.  Genevieve,  having  gone  one  Sunday  night  very 
late  to  the  church  of  St.  Denys,  in  company  with  some 
young  girls,  the  taper  which  they  carried  was  extinguished, 
and  her  companions  became  alarmed  at  being  in  the  dark. 
The  saint  thereupon  took  the  taper  into  her  hand  and  it 
was  immediately  re-lighted. 

39,  40.  This  refers  to  a  flood,  caused  by  the  river  Seine 
overflowing  its  banks,  which  St.  Genevieve  was  supposed 
to  have  caused  to  subside. 

41.   "In  1130,  though  some  place  it  earlier,  occurred  the 
famous  miracle  of '  The  Ardents,'  commemorated  Novem- 
T 


274  NOTES. 

her  26,  by  order  of  Pope  Innocent  II.  Paris  was  devas- 
tated by  a  plague  called  the  '  Ignis  Sacer, '  against  which 
all  human  remedies  proved  futile.  At  last  the  coffin  of  St. 
Genovefa  was  carried  in  solemn  procession  and  elevated 
in  her  church.  All  who  pressed  near  it  were  healed,  ex- 
cept three,  who  were  concluded  from  that  circumstance 
to  be  unbelievers."— Smith  and  Wace's  "  Diet,  of  Chris- 
tian Biography,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  634. 

SEQUENCE  XXXIX. 

St.  Agnes,  a  virgin  either  twelve  or  thirteen  years  old, 
was  beheaded  at  Rome  under  Diocletian,  after  vain  efforts 
first  made  to  overcome  her  faith  by  vile  outrage. 

The  legend  about  her  relates  that  the  prefect's  son  fell 
in  love  with  her  as  she  was  returning  from  school,  and, 
on  her  refusing  his  suit,  fell  ill.  The  father  then  en- 
deavoured, first  by  large  offers,  and  afterwards  by 
threats,  to  force  her  into  a  union  with  his  son,  but,  fail- 
ing to  move  her,  caused  her  to  be  stripped  naked,  and,  in 
that  condition,  to  be  conveyed  to  a  brotheL  On  her  way 
thither  our  Lord  caused  her  hair  to  grow  to  such  a  length 
as  entirely  to  cover  her  nakedness,  and  on  her  arrival  at 
the  brothel  she  found  an  angel  awaiting  her,  who  first 
wrapped  her  in  a  robe  of  exceeding  whiteness,  and  then 
filled  the  place  with  such  dazzling  light,  that  none  dare 
approach  her  to  do  her  harm.  On  coming  there,  the 
prefect's  son  (whom  some  represent  as  having  been 
blinded)  rushes  recklessly  towards  the  light  and  is 
suffocated  by  an  evil  spirit.  At  the  prayer  of  St.  Agnes 
he  recovers,  but  the  priests  excite  the  heathen  populace 
to  fury  at  this  Christian  miracle,  and  demand  her  death 
by  burning  as  a  witch.  On  her  being  cast  into  a  great 
fire  the  flames  divide  on  other  side,  and  burn  the  by- 
standers, but  leave  her  untouched  in  the  midst.  The 


NOTES.  275 

subprefect,  one  Aspasius,  then  orders  her  to  be  beheaded. 
As,  seven  days  after  her  burial,  her  parents  were  watching 
her  grave,  St.  Agnes  appeared  to  them  in  the  midst  of  a 
body  of  virgins,  clothed  in  a  vesture  of  gold,  and  with  a 
lamb  whiter  than  snow  standing  on  her  right  hand.  This 
apparition  of  St.  Agnes  was  celebrated  by  the  church  on 
the  2nd  of  January. 

65,  66.  Constantia,  a  virgin,  not  the  sister,  but  the  daughter  of 
Constantine,  having,  whilst  in  prayer  at  the  tomb  of  St. 
Agnes,  fallen  asleep,  saw  in  her  dreams  a  vision  of  the 
saint,  and  woke  up  perfectly  cured  of  a  grievous  leprosy 
with  which  she  had  been  previously  afflicted. 


INDEX  OF  FIRST  LINES  OF  THE 
FIRST  VOLUME. 

LATIN. 

No.  Page 

xxxix.  Animemur  ad  agonem,       ....  236 

xxxvii.  Aquas  plenas  amaritudine ....  222 

xxxm.  Christo  laudes  persolvat — .        .         .        .  200 

xxv.  Clara    chorus    dulce    pangat    voce    nunc 

Alleluia 150 

xxviil.  Congaudentes  exultemus  vocali  concordia, .  170 

IX.  Ecce  dies  Celebris !    .         .         .         .         .  52 

xxvil.  Exultemus  et  laetemur       ....  164 

xxxv.  Gaude,  Sion,  et  laetare,      ....  208 

xxxvni.  Genovefse  solemnitas         ....  230 

xxxi.  Gratulemur  ad  festivum 188 

viii.  Hac  die  festa  concinat  multimoda  camcena,  46 

xxix.  Heri  mundus  exultavit       .         .         .         .176 

II.  In  excelsis  canitur      .....  8 

III.  In  natale  Salvatoris 14 

xxvi.  Jerusalem  et  Sion  filiae 156 

V.  Jubilemus  Salvatori 28 

IV.  Lux  est  orta  gentibus,        ....  22 
x.  Lux  illuxit  Dominica         .        .         .         .  58 

xvi.  Lux  jucunda,  lux  insignis,          ...  94 

xiii.  Mundi  renovatio        .....  76 

vi.  Nato  nobis  Salvatore         ....  34 

xxxvi.  Pia  mater  plangat  ecclesia          .         .         .  214 

xv.  Postquam  hostem  et  inferna        ...  88 

I.  Potestate,  non  natura,        ....  2 

xxn.  Profitentes  unitatem 130 

xxni.  Quam  dilecta  tabernacula          .        .        .136 


278  INDEX  OF  FIRST  LINES. 

No. 

xvn.  Qui  procedis  ab  utroque,  . 

XXIV.  Rex  Salomon  fecit  templum,     . 

xxx.  Rosa  novum  dans  odorem, 

XI.  Salve,  dies  dierum  gloria, 

XII.  Sexta  passus  feria,     ... 

XVIII.  Simplex  in  essentia,  . 

Xix.  Spiritus  paraclitus,    ... 

VII.  Splendor  Patris  et  figura   . 

xxxiv.  Trinitatem  reserat  aquila  . 

xxi.  Trinitatem  simplicem,        .       \.. 

XX.  Veni,  summe  consolator,    .      -,    - 

xxxii.  Verbi  vere  substantivi, 

XIV.  Zyma  vetus  expurgetur 


Page 
100 

144 
184 

64 
70 

no 
116 

38 
204 
128 

122 

194 

So 


INDEX   OF  FIRST  LINES   OF  THE 
FIRST  VOLUME. 


ENGLISH. 

No.  Page 

xxxvn.  A  new  Elisha  bitter  waters  heals        .        .  223 

xxxix.  As  we  tell  once  more  the  fashion       .         .  237 

XII.  Christ,  upon  the  Friday  slain,    .         .         .  71 

XX.  Come,  our  comfort's  chief  reviver  !     .         .  123 

XVII.  Comforter,  from  both  together,           .         .  101 

xvi.  Day  delightful,  day  most  noted  !        .        .  95 

vii.  Fashioned  as  a  human  creature,         .         .  39 

IV.  For  the  Gentiles  up  hath  sprung        .         .  23 

xxxvin.  Genevieve  a  holy  mirth     .        .         .         .231 

XI.  Hail,  day,  the  glory  of  all  days,  to  thee  !   .  65 

IX.  Hail,  great  day  of  wondrous  deeds  !  .         .  53 

II.  In  the  highest,  hark  !  the  strain,        .         .  9 

XXVI.  Jerusalem's  and  Sion's  daughters  fair  !        .  157 

xxxiv.  John,  the  eagle,  first  of  Evangelists,         .  205 

XXXII.  John's  theology  declareth,  ....  195 

xxxv.  Joy,  O  Sion  !  and  rejoice  thou,          .         .  209 

xxv.  Let  our  choir  now  loudly  j  oin  their  Alleluia's 

brightest  strains, 151 

xxxill.  Let  our  choir  upon  this  day, —  .         .         .  201 

xxvni.  Let  us  all  exult  together,  as  with  one  united 

voice 171 

XXVII.  Let  us,  shouts  of  gladness  raising,      .         .  165 

xxx.  Lo  !  a  rose,  new  odour  shedding,       .        .  185 

xvni.  May  the  Spirit  on  us  shine,         .         .         .  in 

xxxvi.  Now  let  our  holy  Mother-Church  bemoan  215 

xxill.  O  how  lovely  are  the  courts  divine     .         .  137 

xxxi.  On  his  feast  with  gratulation      .         .         .  189 


28o 


INDEX  OF  FIRST  LINES. 


No.  Page 

xiv.  Purge  away  the  former  leaven,  81 

XV.  Satan  and  the  realms  infernal    ...  89 

ill.  Since  a  Saviour  is  born  for  us,  (No.  i)       .  15 

vi.  Since  a  Saviour  is  born  for  us,  (No.  2)       .  35 

XXIV.  Solomon,  the  King,  a  temple     .        .        .  145 

v.  Songs  of  joy  let  us  be  raising     ...  29 

xin.  Spring's  renewal  of  earth's  plain        .        .  77 

I.  The  Creator,  not  by  nature        ...  3 

X.  The  Lord's  own  day  hath  poured  its  rays,  .  59 

XIX.  The  Spirit  dear,  that  Comforter,        .         .  117 

vin.  This  festal  day  our  muse  should  be  a  varied 

song  upraising,      .....  47 

xxi.  To  the  Trine  God,  not  Gods  three,    .         .  129 

xxil.  We,  the  Unity  confessing,          .        .         .131 

XXIX.  Yesterday  the  world,  elated,      .         .         .177 


END   OF   VOL.    I. 


CHISWICK  PRESS:— c.  WHITTINGHAM  AND  co.  TOOKS  COURT, 

CHANCERY   LANE. 


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